an answer to a paper set forth by the coffee-men directed to the honourable, the commons in parliament assembled being reflections upon some propositions that were exhibited to the parliament for the changing the excise of coffee, tea, and chocolate into a custom upon the commodities. 1680 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a25542 wing a3334 estc r18391 11938555 ocm 11938555 51227 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a25542) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 51227) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 48:20) an answer to a paper set forth by the coffee-men directed to the honourable, the commons in parliament assembled being reflections upon some propositions that were exhibited to the parliament for the changing the excise of coffee, tea, and chocolate into a custom upon the commodities. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 168-?] created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng tax protests and appeals -england. coffee -taxation -england. tea -taxation -england. chocolate -taxation -england. broadsides -england -17th century. 2003-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-12 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2003-12 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an answer to a paper set forth by the coffee-men ; directed to the honourable , the commons in parliament assembled . being reflections upon some propositions that were exhibited to the parliament , for the changing the excise of coffee , tea , and chocolate , into a custom , upon the commodities . they acknowledge the said paper seems to be in favour of the ●etailers of coffee , &c. and in reality it is so : because , as the tax before was up●n the liquor , many paid more than they ought , and many less : and therefore , they themselves petitioned the parliament , that there mig●t be an impost laid after this manner : and do not complain of the manner of the tax , but tha● the rates are too high ; when in truth , the tax is not half so high , as it is by the statute , if eve●y man paid his just due : and therefore , unjustly complain of the paper , as going about to ruine th●m , and their families . they accuse the paper of great falsities in the proportions of the co●●e , tea , and chocolate , to make the several quantities of liquors , though the proportions are the same as are used in most coffee-houses in and about london . and have set out a calculation of their own , which is much further from truth . but suppose their own calculation about the proportions of the quantities to be true . by the act , every coffee-seller is to pay eight pence per gallon for coffee ; sixteen pence per gallon for tea ; and sixteen pence per gallon for chocolate . now , by their own calculation , a pound of coffee makes ●wo gallons and an half of coffee liquor , which is to pay twenty pence . but by the paper , a pound of coffe● is to pay but ten pence . a pound of tea , by their calculation , makes nine galons of liquor , which by the act , at sixteen pence per gallon , amounts to twelv● shillings per pound . but by the paper , a pound of tea is proposed 〈◊〉 at five shillings per pound . chocolate , by the act , is t● pay sixteen pence per galon , and one pound makes but one gallon by their calculation . but this must be a false calculation : for if a ●ound of chocolate , which commonly is sold for four shillings pe● pound , will make but one gallon , and the gallon containeth , by their estimation , but twenty dishes ▪ which at three pence per dish , comes to but five shillings per gallon : now the duty being sixteen pence ▪ and the chocolate four shillings , amounts to five shillings and four pence per gallon ; so ●at they lose in every gallon four pence by the retailing of it , if their calculation were true . but if the calculation of the proportions in the paper , which was for milk-chocolate , and to be sold at two pence the dish ; or if one third part of chocolate be allow'd more to the same proportion of liquor to make it with water , and sold at three pence the dish , there would appear some profit to the retailer , which ought to be more believ'd than their calculation , which produceth loss . for cocao-nut , they make no objections ; so it 's taken for granted , that may pay one shilling per pound . so it plainly appears , by their own acknowledgment , that the rules set down in the paper , are not half so great as those already appointed by the act , if every man paid his full due . and it is not to be supposed , that the coffee-men designed , by their petition , to lessen the duty of the excise ; but to make it more equal , by changing it into an impost . and if they pay no more than they ought to do by the act , they have no reason to complain : and therefore they must acknowledge , that the paper was written with a design of ease and friendship to them , as well as out of service to the crown ; to improve the revenue to the king , and render the tax more easy to the subject . the consumption of coffee as appears by the coffee-mens calculation delivered with their petition , amounts to 100 tuns a year , which by the statute pays 20d . per pound , is — 16666. 13. 4. tea , 27000 pounds a year , at 12 s. per pound , is — 16200. 00. 00. chocolate , 6000 pounds at 16 d. per pound , is — 400. 00. 00. cocao-nut , 300 hundreds at 1 s. per pound , is — 1500. 00. 00. in all 34766. 13. 4. whereas the rates proposed in the proposition for changing the excise into an impost , amounts to but — 17033. 6 8. there is frequently sold in coffee-houses , these following liquors , which pay the duties , either of excise or customs , viz. coffee , tea , chocolate , mum , mead , metheglin , sider , perry , usquebaugh , brandy , aqua-vitae , strong-waters , beer , and ale. now , if all other invented liquors ( which pay no duty ) be prohibited under such a penalty as this honourable house shall think fit , it would cause a far greater consumption of those liquors that 〈◊〉 duties . finis . a curious treatise of the nature and quality of chocolate. vvritten in spanish by antonio colmenero, doctor in physicke and chirurgery. and put into english by don diego de vades-forte curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate. english colmenero de ledesma, antonio. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a19160 of text s108510 in the english short title catalog (stc 5570). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 44 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a19160 stc 5570 estc s108510 99844168 99844168 8957 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a19160) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 8957) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1475-1640 ; 1132:20) a curious treatise of the nature and quality of chocolate. vvritten in spanish by antonio colmenero, doctor in physicke and chirurgery. and put into english by don diego de vades-forte curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate. english colmenero de ledesma, antonio. wadsworth, james, 1604-1656? [6], 21, [1] p. by i. okes, dwelling in little st. bartholomewes, imprinted at london : 1640. don diego de vades-forte = james wadsworth. a translation of: curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate. running title reads: a curious treatise of chocolate. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng chocolate -early works to 1800. a19160 s108510 (stc 5570). civilwar no a curious treatise of the nature and quality of chocolate. vvritten in spanish by antonio colmenero, doctor in physicke and chirurgery. and colmenero de ledesma, antonio 1640 8829 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 b the rate of 1 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the b category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2003-10 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a curious treatise of the nature and quality of chocolate . vvritten in spanish by antonio colmenero , doctor in physicke and chirurgery . and put into english by don diego de vades-forte . imprinted at london by j. okes , dwelling in little st. bartholmewes . 1640. to the right honourable edward lord viscount conway and killultah ; baron of ragley ; lord marshall of the army , and privy counsellour of ireland ; and one of the counsell of warre to his maiesty of great brittaine . my lord , this stranger , who hath newly learnt the english tongue , dares not venture himselfe in publick , without a patronage ; which , with all humblenesse , he intreats of your lordship . the great affection , your lordship hath shewne to the spanish language ; and the benignity , wherewith you are pleased to entertaine whatsoever relisheth of art , or ingenuity ; makes him hope , you will not refuse your favour and protection to one of that nation . nor knowes he , where to shelter himselfe with so much safety ; the eminence of your person , and judgement , being of power to secure him , from all petulant and malicious exceptions . be pleased then , my lord , to receive him with favour : so may those excellent , and naturall beauties of this happy isle ( who shall have either health or pleasure , from this confection ) be ever serene , and gratefull to your lordship ; presaging encrease of honour , and all felicity , answerable to the humble devotion , and hearty prayers of your lordships most obedient , and obliged servant don diego v'ades-forte . the allowance of melchor de lara , physitian generall for the kingdome of spaine . i doctor melchor de lara physitian generall for the kingdome of spaine , at the command of don john de velasco , and asebedo , vicar generall of madrid , have seene this treatise of chocolate , composed by antonio colmenero of ledesma ; which is very learned , and curious ; and therefore it ought to be licensed for the presse ; it containing nothing contrary to good manners ; and it cannot but be very pleasing to those , who are affected to chocolate . in testimony whereof , i have subscribed my name , in madrid the 23. day of august . 1631. melchor de lara . the testimoniall of john de mena , doctor and physitian to the king of spaine . i iohn de mena , physitian to his maiesty , and one of the counsell generall of the inquisition , have seene this treatise of chocolate ( composed by doctor antonio colmenero of ledesma ) by command of the supreame royall court of iustice : which containeth nothing contrary to good manners , and the subiect is very learnedly handled , and with great judgement ; and no doubt , but it will give much pleasure and content to all those , who are affected to chocolate ; and therefore may be printed : and in confirmation of this truth , i have hereto subscribed my name the 17. of septemb. 1631. john de mena doctor in physicke . to the reader . the number is so great of those , who , in these times , drinke chocolate , that not onely in the indies , where this kinde of drinke hath its orignall ; but it is also much used in spaine , italy , and flanders , and particularly at the court . and many doe speake diversly of it , according to the benefit , or hurt , they receive from it : some saying , that it is stopping : others , and those the greater part , that it makes one fat : others , that the use of it strengthens the stomacke : others , that it heats , and burnes them : and others say , that although they take it every houre , and in the dog-dayes , yet they finde themselves well with it . and therefore my desire is , to take this paines , for the pleasure , and profit of the publicke ; endeavouring to accommodate it to the content of all , according to the variety of those things , where with it may be mixt ; that so every man may make choise of that , which shall be most agreeable to his disposition . i have not seen any , who hath written any thing , concerning this drinke ; but onely a physitian of marchena , who ( as it seemes ) writ onely by relation ; holding an opinion , that the chocolate is stopping , because that cacao ( the principall ingredient of which it is made ) is cold , and dry . but because this onely reason , may not have power to keepe some from the use of it , who are troubled with opilations . i thinke fit to defend this confection , with philosophicall reasons , against any , whosoever will condemne this drinke , which is so wholesome , and so good , knowing how to make the paste in that manner , that it may be agreeable to divers dispositions , in the moderate drinking of it . and so , with all possible brevity , i shall distinguish and divide this treatise into foure poynts , or heads . in the first place i shall declare , what chocolate is ; and what are the qualities of cacao , and the other ingredients of this confection ; where i shall treate of the receipt set downe by the aforesaid author of marchena , and declare my opinion concerning the same . the second point shall treat of the quality , which resulteth out of the mixture of these simples , which are put into it . in the third place , the manner of compounding ; and how many wayes they use to drinke it in the indies . in the fourth , and last place , i shall treate of the quantity ; and how it ought to be taken ; at what time ; and by what persons . the first point . concerning the first point , i say , that chocolate is a name of the indians ; which in our vulgar castilian , we may call a certaine confection , in which ( amongst other ingredients ) the principall basis , and foundation , is the cacao ; of whose nature and quality it is necessary first to treat : and therefore i say , according to the common received opinion , that it is cold , and dry , à praedominio ; that is to say , that though it be true , that every simple containes in it the qualities of the foure elements , in the action , and re-action , which it hath in it , yet there results another distinct quality , which we call complexion . this quality , or complexion , which ariseth of this mixture , is not alwayes one , and the same ; neither hath it the effect , in all the mixtures , but they may be varied nine wayes ; foure simple , from whence one onely quality doth abound ; and foure compounded , from whence two symbolizing qualities are predominant , and one other , which we call ad pondus , which is of all these fore-said qualities , which are in aequilibrio , that is to say in equall measure and degree . of all these , the complexion of cacao is composed , since there arise two qualities , which are cold , and dry ; and in the substance , that rules them , hath it restringent and obstructive , of the nature of the element of the earth . and then , as it is a mixe , and not a simple element , it must needes have parts correspondent to the rest of the elements ; and particularly , it partakes ( and that , not a little ) of those , which correspond with the element of aire , that is , heat and moysture , which are governed by the unctuous parts ; there being drawne out of the cacao much butter , which , in the indies i have seene drawne out of it , for the face , by the criollas . it may philosophically be objected , in this manner : two contrary qualities , and disagreeing , cannot be , in gradu intenso , in one and the same subject : cacao is cold and drie , in predominency : therefore , it cannot have the qualities contrary to those ; which are heate , and moysture . the first proposition is most certaine , and grounded upon good philosophy : the second is consented unto , by all : the third , which is the conclusion , is regular . it cannot be denyed , but that the argument is very strong , and these reasons being considered by him of marchena , have made him affirme , that chocolate is obstructive ; it seeming to be contrary to philosophy , that it there should bee found heate and moysture , in gradu intenso ; and to be so likewise in cold and dry . to this , there are two things to be answered : one , that he never saw the experience of drawing out the butter , which i have done ; and that when the chocolate is made without adding any thing to the dryed powder , which is incorporated , onely by beating it well together , and is united , and made into a paste , which is a signe that there is a moist , and glutinous part , which , of necessity , must correspond with the element of aire . the other reason , we will draw from philosophy ; affirming that , in the cacao , there are different substances . in the one , that is to say , in that , which is not so fat , it hath a greater quantity of the oylie , then of the earthy substance ; and in the fatter parts , it hath more of the earthy than of the oily substance . in these there is heat and moysture in predominancy and in the other cold and dry . notwithstanding that it is hard to be believed , that in one and the same substance , and so little of the cacao , it can have substances so different : to the end that it may appeare more easie , cleare , and evident , first we see it in the rubarbe , which hath in it hot and soluble parts , and parts which are binding , cold and dry which have a vertue to strengthen , binde , and stop the loosenesse of the belly : i say also , that hee that sees , and considers the steele , so much of the nature of the earth , as being heavy , thicke , cold , and dry ; it seemes to be thought unproper for the caring of opilations , but rather to be apt , to encrease them ; and yet it is given for a proper remedy against them . this difficulty is cleared thus , that though it be true , that it hath much of the earthy part ; yet it hath also parts of sulphur , and of quick-silver , which doe open , and disopilate ; neither doth it so , untill it be helped by art , as it is ground , stirred , and made fine , in the preparing of it ; the sulphurous parts , and those of quick-silver , being thinne , active , and penetrative , they mingle , at the last with those parts , which are earthy and astringent : insomuch , that they being mingled after this manner , one with another , we cannot now say , that the steele is astringent , but rather , that it is penetrative , attenuating , and opening . let us prove this doctrine by authorities ; and let the first be from gallen , lib. 3. of the qualities of simples , cap. 14. where , first of all he teacheth , that almost all those medicines , which , to our sence , seeme to bee simple , are notwithstanding naturally compounded , containing in themselves contrary qualities ; and that is to say , a quality to expell , and to retaine ; to incrassate , and attenuate ; to rarifie , and to condense . neither are we to wonder at it , it being understood , that in every fore-said medicine , there is a quality to heate , and to coole ; to moisten and to dry . and whatsoever medicine it bee , it hath in it , thicke , and thinne parts ; rare , and dense ; soft , and hard . and in the fifteenth chapter following , in the same booke , hee puts an example of the broth of a cocke , which moves the belly ; and the flesh hath the vertue to binde . he puts also the example of the aloes , which if it be washt , looseth the purgative vertue ; or that which it hath , is but weake . that this differing vertue , and faculty , is found in divers substances , or parts of simple medicaments , gallen shewes in the first booke of his simple medicines , and the seventeenth chapter , bringing the example of milke ; in which , three substances are found , and separated , that is to say , the substance of cheese , which hath the vertue to stop the fluxe of the belly ; and the substance of whay , which is purging ; and butter , as it is expressed in the said gallen , cap. 15. also we finde in wine which is in the must , three substances , that is to say , earth , which is the chiefe ; and a thinner substance , which is the flower , and may be called the scum , or froath : and a third substance , which we properly call wine ; and every one of these substances , containes in it selfe divers qualities , and vertues ; in the colour , in the smell , and in other accidents . aristotle in the fourth booke of the meteors and the first chapter , treating of putrifaction , hee found the same substances ; and in the second chapter next following , where he that is curious , may read it . and also by the doctrine of galen , and of aristotle , divers substances are attributed to every of the mixt under one and the same forme and quantity ; which is very conformable to reason , if we consider , that every aliment , be it never so simple , begets , and produceth in the liver , foure humours , not onely differing in temper , but also in substance ; and begets more or lesse of that humour , according as that aliment hath more or fewer parts corresponding to the substance of that humour , which is most ingendred . and so in cold diseases , we give warme nourishment ; and cold nourishment , in hot diseases . from which evident examples , and many others , which we might produce to this purpose , wee may gather , that , when we grinde , and stirre the cacao , the divers parts , which nature hath given it , doe artificially , and intimately mixe themselves one with an other ; and so the uuctuous , warme , and moist parts , mingled with the earthy ( as we have said of the steele ) represses , and leaves them not so binding , as they were before ; but rather with a mediocritie , more inclining to the warme , and moist temper of the aire , then to the cold and dry of the earth ; as it doth appeare when it is made fit to drinke ; that you scarce give it two turnes with the molinet when there riseth a fatty scumme : by which you may see , how much it partaketh of the oylie part . from which doctrine i gather , that the author of marchena , was in an errour ; who , writing of chocolate , saith , that it causeth opilations , because cacao is astringent ; as if that astriction were not corrected , by the intimate mixing of one part with an other , by meanes of the grinding , as is said before . besides , it having so many ingredients , which are naturally hot , it must of necessity have this effect ; that is to say , to open , attenuate , and not to binde , and , indeed , there is no cause of bringing more examples , or producing more reasons , for this truth , then that which we see in the cacao it selfe : which , if it be not stirred , and compounded , as aforesaid , to make the chocolate . but eating of it , as it is in the fruite , as the criollas eate it in the indies , it doth notably obstruct , and cause stoppings ; for no other cause but this , that the divers substances which it containes , are not perfectly mingled by the mastication onely , but require the artificiall mixture , which we have spoken of before . besides , our adversary should have considered , and called to his memory , the first rudiments of philosophy , that , à dicto secundum quid , ad dictum simpliciter , non valet consequentia ; as it is not enough to say , the black-a-moore is white , because his teeth are white ; for hee may bee blacke , though he have white teeth ; and so it is not enough io say , that the cacao is stopping ; and therefore the confection , which is made of it , is also stopping . the tree , which beares this fruit , is so delicate ; and the earth , where it growes , is so extreame hot , that to keepe the tree from being consumed by the sun , they first plant other trees ; and when they are growne up , to a good heighth , then they plant the cacao-trees ; that when it first shewes it selfe above the ground , those trees , which are already growne , may shelter it from the sunne ; and the fruit doth not grow naked , but ten or twelue of them are in one gorde or codde , which is of the bignes of a great blacke figge , or bigger , and of the same forme , and colour . there are two sorts of cacao ; the one is common , which is of a gray colour , inclining towards red ; the other is broader , and bigger , which they call patlaxte , and this is white , and more drying ; whereby it causeth watchfulnes , and drives away sleepe , and therefore it is not so usefull , as the ordinary . this shall suffice to be said of the cacao . and as for the rest of the ingredients , which make our chocolaticall confection , there is notable variety ; because some doe put into it blacke pepper , and also tauasco ; which is not proper , because is is so hot and dry ; but onely for one , who hath a very cold liver . and of this opinion , was a certaine doctor of the universite of mexico , of whom a religious man of good credit told me , that he finding the ordinary round pepper was not fit to bring his purpose about ; and to the end , he might discover , whether the long red pepper were more proper , he made triall upon the liver of a sheepe ; and putting the ordinary pepper on one side , and the red pepper on the other , after 24. houres , the part , where the ordinary pepperlay , was dryed up ; and the other part continued moist , as if nothing had bin throwen upon it . the receipt of him who wrote at marchena , is this : of cacaos , 700 ; of white sugar , one pound and a halfe ; cinnamon , 2. ounces ; of long red pepper , 14. of cloves , halfe an ounce : three cods of the logwood or campeche tree ; or in stead of that , the weight of 2. reals , or a shilling of annis-seeds ; as much of achiote , as will give it the colour , which is about the quantity of a hasell-nut . some put in almons , kernels of nuts , and orenge-flower-water . concerning this receipt , i shall first say , this shooe will not fit every foote ; but for those , who have diseases , or are inclining to be infirme , you may either adde , or take away , according to the necessity , and temperature of every one : and i hold it not amisse , that sugar bee put into it , when it is drunke , so that it be according to the quantity i shall hereafter set downe . and sometimes they make tablets of the sugar , and the chocolate together ; which they doe onely to please the pallats , as the dames of mexico doe use it ; and they are there sold in shops , and are confected and eaten like other sweet-meats . for the cloves , which are put into this drinke , by the author aforesaid , the best writers of this composition use them not ; peradventure upon this reason : that although they take away the ill savour of the mouth , they binde ; as a learned writer hath exprest in these verses : foetorem emendant or is cariophila foedum ; constring unt ventrem , primaque membrajuvant . and because they are binding ( and hot and dry in the third degree ) they must not be used , though they helpe the chiefe parts of concoction , which are the stomacke , and the liver , as appeares by the verses before recited . the husks or cods of logwood , or campeche , are very good , and smell like fennell ; and every one puts in of these , because they are not very hot ; though it excuse not the putting in of annis-seed , as sayes the author of this receipt ; for there is no chocolate without it , because it is good for many cold diseases , being hot in the third degree ; and to temper the coldnesse of the cacao ; and that it may appeare , it helpes the indisposition of cold parts , i will cite the verses of one , curious in this art : morbosos renes , vesicam , guttura , vuluam , intestina , iecur , cumque lyene caput confortat , varijsque anisum subdita mortis membra : istud tantam vim leve semen habet . the quantity of a nut of the achiote is too little to colour the quantity made according to his receipt ; and therefore , he that makes it , may put it in , as much as he thinkes fit . those , who adde almons , and nuts , doe not ill ; because they give it more body and substance then maiz , or paniso , which others use ; and for my part , i should alwayes put it in to chocolate , for almonds ( besides what i have said of them before ) are moderately hot , and have a thin juice ; but you must not use new almons , as a learned author sayes in these verses . dat modicè calidum dulcisque amigdalasuccum , et tenuem ; inducunt damna nova . and the small nuts are not ill for our purpose ; for they have almost the temper , which the almons have ; onely because they are dryer , they come nearer the temper of choler ; and doe therefore strengthen the belly , and the stomacke , being dryed : for so they must be used for the confection ; and they preserve the head from those vapours , which rise from the belly : as it appeares by the said author in these verses . bilis avellanamsequitur ▪ sedroborat aluum ventris , & à fumis liberat assacaput . and therefore they are proper for such as are troubled with ventuosities , and hypochondriacall vapours , which offend the brain , and there cause such troublesome dreames , and sad imaginations . those who mixe maiz , or paniso , in the chocolate doe very ill ; because those graines doe beget a very melancholy humour : as the same author expresseth in these verses . crassa melancholicum praestant tibi panica succum siccant , si ponas membra , geiantque foris . it is also apparantly windy ; and those which mixe it in this confection , do it onely for their profit , by encreasing the quantity of the chocolate ; because every fanega or measure of * grani containing about a bushell and a halfe , is sold for eight shillings , and they sell this confection for foure shillings a pound , which is the ordinary price of the chocolate . the cinamon is hot and dry in the third degree ; it provokes urine , and helpes the kidneys and reynes of those who are troubled with cold diseases ; and it is good for the eyes ; and in effect , it is cordiall ; as appeares by the author of these verses . commoda & urinae cynamomum & renibus affert ; lumina clarificat , dira venenafugat . the achiote hath a piercing attenuating quality ; as appeareth by the common practice of the physitians in the indies , experienced dayly in the effects of it , who doe give it to their patients , to cut , and attenuate the grosse humours , which do cause shortnesse of breath , and stopping of urine ; and so it may be used for any kind of opilations ; for we give it for the stoppings , which are in the breast , or in the region of the belly , or any other part of the body . and concerning the long red peper , there are foure sorts of it . one is called chilchotes : the other very little , which they call chilterpin ; and these two kindes , are very quicke and biting . the other two are called tonalchiles , and these are moderately hot ; for they are eaten with bread , as they eate other fruits , and they are of a yellow colour ; and they grow onely about the townes , which are in , and adjoyning to the lake of mexico . the other pepper is called chilpaclagua , which hath a broad huske ; and this is not so biting as the first ; nor so gentle as the last : and is that , which is usually put into the chocolate . there are also other ingredients , which are used in this confection . one called mechasuchil ; and another which they call vinecaxtli , which in the spanish they call orejuelas , which are sweet smelling flowers , aromaticall and hot . and the mechasuchil hath a purgative quality ; for in the indies they make a purging potion of it . in stead of this , in spaine they put into the confection , powder of roses of alexandria , for opening the belly . i have spoken of all these ingredients , that every one may make choise of those which please him best , or are most proper for his infirmities . the second point . as concerning the second poynt , i say , as i have said before , that though it be true , that the cacao is mingled with all these ingedients , which are hot ; yet there is to be a greater quantity of cacao ; then of all the rest of the ingredients , which serve to temper the coldnesse of the cacao : just as when wee seeke , of two medicines of contrary qualities , to compound one , which shall be of a modera te temper : in the same manner doth result the same action and re-action of the cold parts of the cacao , and of the hot parts of the other ingredients , which makes the chocolate of so moderate a quality , that it differs very little from a mediocrity ; and when there is not put in any ordinary pepper , or cloves , but onely a little annisseede ( as i shall shew hereafter ) we may boldly say , that it is very temperate . and this may be proved by reason , and experience : ( supposing that which gallen sayes , to be true , that every mixt medicine , warmeth the cold , and cooleth the hot ; bringing the example of oyle of roses . ) by experience , i say , that in the indies ( as is the custome of that countrey ) i comming in a heat to visit a sicke person , and asking water to refresh me , they perswaded me to take a * draught of chocolate ; which quencht my thirst : and in the morning ( if i tooke it fasting ) it did warme and comfort my stomacke . now let us prove it by reason . we have already proved , that all the parts of the cacao are not cold . for wee have made it appeare that the unctuous parts , which are many , be all hot , or temperate : then , though it be true , that the quantity of the cacao is greater than of all the rest of the ingredients , yet the cold parts are at the most , not halfe so many as the hot ; and if for all this they should be more , yet by stirring , & mingling of the warme unctuous parts , they are much qualified . and , on the other side , it being mixt with the other ingredients , which are hot in the second and third degree , being the predominant quality , it must needes be brought to a mediocrity . like as two men , who shake hands , the one being hot , and the other cold , the one hand borrowes heat , and the other is made colder ; and in conclusion , neither hand retains the cold , or heat it had before , but both of them remaine more temperate . so like wise two men , who goe to wrestle , at the first they are in their full vigour and strength ; but after they have strugled a while , their force lessens by degrees , till at last they are both much weaker , than when they beganne to wrestle . and aristotle was also of this opinion in his fourth booke of the nature of beasts , cap. 3. where he sayes , that every agent suffers with the patient ; as that which cuts , is made dull by the thing it cuts ; that which warmes , cooles it selfe ; and that which thrusts , or forceth forward , is in some sort driven backe it selfe . from whence i gather that it is better to use chocolate , after it hath beene made some time , a moneth at the least . i believe this time to be necessary , for breaking the contrary qualities of the severall ingredients , and to bring the drinke to a moderate temper . for , as it alwayes falls out at the first , that every contrary will have it predominancy , and will work his owne , nature not liking well to be heated and cooled , at the same time . and this is the cause why gallen in his twelfth booke of method , doth advise not to use philonium , till after a yeare , or , at the least , sixe moneths ; because it is a composition made of opium ( which is cold in the fourth degree ) and of pepper , and other ingredients , which are hot in the third degree . this theorum , and doctrine , is made good by the practise , which some have made , of whom i have asked , what chocolate did best agree with them : and they have affirmed , that the best is that which hath beene made some moneths ; and that the new doth hurt by loosening the stomack ; and ; in my opinion , the reason of it is , that the unctuous or fat parts , are not altogether corrected , by the earthy parts of the cacao . and this i shall thus prove ; for , as i shall declare hereafter , if you make the chocolate boyle , when you drinke it , the boyling of it divides the fat and oyly part ; and that makes a relaxation in the stomacke in the old chocolate , as well as if it were new . so that i conclude in this second poynt , that the chocolaticall consection is not so cold as the cacao , nor so hot as the rest of the ingredients ; but there results from the action and re-action of these ingredients , a moderate temper which may be good , both for the cold and hot stomacks , being taken moderately , as shall be declared hereafter ; and it having beene made a moneth at the least ; as is already proved . and so i know not , why any man having made experience of this confection ( which is composed , as it ought to be , for every particular ) should speake ill of it . besides , where it is so much used , the most , if not all , as well in the indies , as in spaine , find , it agreeth wel with them . he of marchena had no ground in saying , that it did cause opilations . for , if it were so , the liver being obstructed , it would extenuate its subject ; and by experience ; we see to the contrary , that it makes fat ; the reason whereof i shall shew hereafter . and this shall suffice for the second poynt . the third point . having treated in the first poynt , of the definition of chocolate , the quality of the cacao , and of the other ingredients ; and in the second point , of the complexion , which results from the mixture of them ; there remaines now in the third poynt , to shew the way how to mingle them : and first i will bring the best receipt , and the most to the purpose , that i could find out ; although it be true which i have said , that one receipt cannot be given , which shall be proper for all ; that is to be understood of those , who are sicke ; for those that are strong , and in health , this may serve : and for the other ( as i have said in the conclusion of the first poynt ) every one make choyse of the ingredients , as they may be usefull , to this , or that part of his body . the receipt is this . to every 100. cacaos , you must put two cods of the * long red pepper , of which i have spoken before , and are called , in the indian tongue , chilparlagua ; and in stead of those of the indies , you may take those of spaine , which are broadest , and least hot . one handfull of annis-seed orejuelas , which are otherwise called vinacaxlidos : and two of the flowers , called mechasuehil , if the belly be bound . but in stead of this , in spaine , we put in sixe roses of alexandria beat to powder : one cod of campeche , or logwood : two drams of cinamon ; almons , and hasle-nuts , of each one dozen : of white sugar , halfe a pound : of achiote , enough to give it the colour . and if you cannot have those things , which come from the indies , you may make it with the rest . the way of compounding . the cacao , and the other ingredients must be beaten in a morter of stone , or ground upon a broad stone , which the indians call metate , and is onely made for that use : but the first thing that is to be done , is to dry the ingredients , all except the achiote ; with care that they may be beaten to powder , keeping them still in stirring , that they be not burnt , or become blacke ; and if they be over-dried , they will be bitter , and lose their vertue . the cinamon , and the long red pepper are to be first beaten , with the annis-seed ; and then beate the cacao , which you must beate by a little and , little , till it be all powdred ; and sometimes turne it round in the beating , that it may mixe the better : and every one of these ingredients , must be beaten by it selfe ; and then put all the ingredients into the vessell , where the cacao is ; which you must stirre together with a spoone , and then take out that paste , and put it into the morter , under which you must lay a little fire , after the confection is made . but you must be very carefull , not to put more fire , than will warme it , that the unctuous part doe not dry away . and you must also take care , to put in the achiote in the beating ; that it may the better take the colour . you must searse all the ingredients , but onely the cacao ; and if you take the shell from the cacao , it is the better ; and when you shall find it to be well beaten , and incorporated ( which you shall know by the shortnesse of it ) then with a spoone take up some of the paste , which will be almost liquid ; and so either make it into tablets ; or put it into boxes , and when it is cold it will be hard . to make the tablets , you must put a spoonefull of the paste upon a piece of paper , the indians put it upon the leaf of a planten-tree ; where , being put into the shade , it growes hard ; and then bowing the paper , the tablet falls off , by reason of the fatnesse of the paste . but if you put it into any thing of earth , or wood , it sticks fast , and will not come off , but with scraping , or breaking . in the indies they take it two severall waies : the one , being the common way , is to take it hot , with atolle , which was the drinke of the ancient indians ( the indians call atolle pappe , made of the flower of maiz , and so they mingle it with the chocolate ; and that the atolle may be more wholsome , they take off the huskes of the maiz , which is windy , and melancholy ; and so there remaines onely the best and most substantiall part . ) now , to returne to the matter , i say , that the other moderne drinke , which the spaniards use so much , is of two sorts . the one is , that the chocolate , being dissolved with cold water , and the scumme taken off , and put into another vessell , the remainder is put upon the fire , with sugar ; and when it is warme , then powre it upon the scumme you tooke off before , and so drinke it . the other is to warme the water ; and then , when you have put it into a pot , or dish , as much chocolate as you thinke fit , put in a little of the warme water , and then grind it well with the molinet ; and when it is well ground , put the rest of the warme water to it ; and so drinke it with sugar . besides these former wayes , there is one other way ; which is , to put the chocolate into a pipkin , with a little water ; and let it boyle well , till it be dissolved ; and then put in sufficient water and sugar , according to the quantity of the chocolate ; and then boyle it againe , untill there comes an oyly summe upon it ; and then drinke it . but if you put too much fire , it will runne over , and spoyle . but , in my opinion , this last way is not so wholsome , though it pleaseth the pallate better ; because , when the oily is divided from the earthy part , which remaines at the bottome , it causeth melancholy ; and the oily part loosens the stomacke , and takes away the appetite . there is another way to drinke chocolate , which is cold ; and it takes its name from the principall ingredient , and is called cacao ; which they use at feasts , to refresh themselves ; and it is made after this manner . the chocolate being dissolved in water with the molinet , take off the scumme , or crassy part , which riseth in greater quantity , when the cacao is older , and more putrified . the scumme is laid aside by it selfe in a little dish ; and then put sugar into that part , from whence you took the scumme ; and powre it from on high into the scumme ; and so drinke it cold . and this drinke is so cold , that it agreeth not with all mens stomacks ; for by experience we finde the hurt it doth , by causing paines in the stomacke , and especially to women . i could deliver the reason of it ; but i avoyd it , because i will not be tedious . there is another way to drinke it cold , which is called cacao penoli ; and it is done , by adding to the same chocolate ( having made the confection , as is before set downe ) so much maiz , dryed , and well ground , and taken from the huske , and then well mingled , in the morter , with the chocolate , it falls all into flowre , or dust : and so these things being mingled , as is said before , there riseth the scum ; and so you take and drink it , as before . there is another way , which is a shorter and quicker way of making it , for men of businesse , who cannot stay long about it ; and it is more wholsome ; and it is that , which i use . that is , first to set some water to warm ; and while it warms , you throw a tablet , or some chocolate , scraped , and mingled with sugar , into a little cup ; and when the water is hot , you power the water to the chocolate , and then dissolve it with the molinet ; and then , without taking off the scum , drinke it , as is before directed . the fourth part. there remaines to be handled in the last poynt , of the quantity , which is to be drunke : at what time ; and by what persons : because if it be drunk beyond measure , not onely of chocolate , but of all other drinkes ; or meates , though of themselves they are good and wholsome , they may be hurtfull . and if any finde it opilative , it comes by the too much use of it ; as when one drinkes over much wine , in stead of comforting , and warming himselfe , he breedes , and nourisheth cold diseases ; because nature cannot overcome it , nor turne so great a quantity into good nourishment . so he that drinks much chocolate , which hath fat parts , cannot make distribution of so great a quantity to all the parts ; and that part which remaines in the slender veines of the liver , must needs cause opilations , and obstructions . to avoyd this inconvenience ; you must onely take five or sixe ounces , in the morning , if it be in winter ; and if the party who takes it , be cholericke , in stead of ordinary water , let him take the distilled water of endive . the same reason serves in summer , for those , who take it physically , having the liver hot and obstructed . if his liver be cold and obstructed , then to use the water of rubarb . and to conclude , you may take it till the moneth of may ; especially in temperate dayes . but i doe not approve , that , in the dog-dayes , it should be taken in spaine , unlesse it bee one , who by custome of taking it , receives no prejudice by it . and if he be of a hot constitution , and that hee have neede to take it in that season , let it , as is said before , be mingled with water of endive ; and once in foure dayes , and chiefely when he finds his stomacke in the morning to be weake and fainting . and though it be true , that , in the indies , they use it all the yeare long , it being a very hot countrey , and so it may seeme by the same reason it may be taken in spaine : first , i say , that custome may allow it : secondly , that , as there is an extraordinary proportion of heat , so there is also of moisture ; which helpes ; with the exorbitant heate , to open the pores ; and so dissipates , and impoverisheth our substance , or naturall vigor : by reason wherof , not only in the morning ; but at any time of the day , they use it without prejudice . and this is most true , that the excessive heate of the countrey , drawes out the naturall heat , and disperseth that of the stomacke , and of the inward parts : insomuch , that though the weather be never so hot , yet the stomacke being cold , it usually doth good . i do not onely say this of the chocolate , which ; as i have proved , hath a moderate heat . but if you drink pure wine , be the weather never so hot , it hurts not , but rather comforts the stomack ; and if in hot weather you drinke water , the hurt it doth is apparent , in that it cooles the stomacke too much ; from whence comes a viciated concoction , and a thousand other inconveniences . you must also observe , that it being granted , as i have said , that there are earthy parts in the cacao , which fall to the bottome of the cup , when you make the drinke , divers are of the opinion , that , that which remaines , is the best and more substantiall ; and they hurt them selves not a little , by drinking of it . for besides , that it is an earthy substance , thick , and stopping , it is of a melancholy nature ; and therefore you must avoyd the drinking of it , contenting your selfe with the best , which is the most substantiall . last of all , there rests one difficulty to be resolved , formerly poynted at ; namely , what is the cause , why chocolate makes most of them that drinke it , fat . for , considering that all of the ingredients , except the cacao , doe rather extenuate , than make fat , because they are hot and drye in the third degree . for we have already said , that the qualities which doe predominate in cacao , are cold , and dry ; which are very unfit to adde any substance to the body . neverthelesse , i say , that the many unctuous parts , which i have proved to be in the cacao , are those , which pinguifie , and make fat ; and the hotter ingredients of this composition , serve for a guide , or vehicall , to passe to the liver , and the other parts , untill they come to the fleshy parts ; and there finding a like substance , which is hot and moyst , as is the unctuous part , converting it selfe into the same substance , it doth augment and pinguifie . much more might bee said from the grounds of philosophy , and physicke ; but because that is fitter for the schooles , than for this discourse , i leave it , & only give this caution , that in my receipt , you may adde mellon-seeds , and seeds of pompions of valencia , dryed , and beaten into powder , where there is any heat of the liver or kidnyes . and if there be any obstructions of the liver , or spleene , with any cold distemper , you may mixe the powder of ceterach ; to which you may adde amber , or muske , to please the scent . and it will be no small matter , to have pleased all , with this discourse . errata . in the title of the dedication , read , and one of the lords of his majesties most honourable privy counsell of ireland . page 3. line 14. for mixe read mixed . p. ib. l. 32. for that it , r. that in it . p. 6. l. 19. for unctuous r. unctuous . p. 8. l. 2. r the marginall note at tevasco . p. ib. l. 11. r. the marginall note at red pepper , p. 13. l. 27. r. owne effects . p. 15. l. 12. r. every one may . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a19160e-720 a red roote like madder . chile . tabasco . a graine like millet * maiz , or indian wheat . notes for div a19160e-2300 hicara ; the shell of a nut to drinke in . notes for div a19160e-2630 * chiles ; the manner of making of coffee, tea, and chocolate as it is used in most parts of europe, asia, africa, and america, with their vertues / newly done out of french and spanish. de l'usage du caphé, du thé, et du chocolate. english dufour, philippe sylvestre, 1622-1687. 1685 approx. 118 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 62 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a36763 wing d2455 estc r4072 12246570 ocm 12246570 56959 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a36763) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56959) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 141:8) the manner of making of coffee, tea, and chocolate as it is used in most parts of europe, asia, africa, and america, with their vertues / newly done out of french and spanish. de l'usage du caphé, du thé, et du chocolate. english dufour, philippe sylvestre, 1622-1687. colmenero de ledesma, antonio. curioso tratado de la naturaleza y calidad del chocolate. english. chamberlayne, john, 1666-1723. [10], 116 p. : ill. printed for william crook ..., london : 1685. the tracts on tea and on chocolate have special title pages. those on tea and coffee are translated by john chamberlayne from the french of philippe sylvestre dufour; that on chocolate from the spanish of a. colmenero de ledesma. cf. bm. reproduction of original in british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng coffee -early works to 1800. tea -early works to 1800. chocolate -early works to 1800. 2003-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-11 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2003-11 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the manner of making of coffee , tea , and chocolate . as it is used in most parts of europe , asia , africa , and america . with their vertues . newly done out of french and spanish . london : printed for william crook at the green dragon without temple bar near devereux court , 1685. to the right worshipful sr. thomas clayton , kt. warden of merton colledge in oxford . this treatise is humbly dedicated by the ranslator iohn chamberlayn . the preface . natvre desiring , that man should go forth of her hands as a perfect master-peice , and as a microcosm full of wonders , has made him a present of a considerable apanage , to wit , a sound and vigorous health , that he may live the longer , and exercise all his functions with the less trouble . but as this health may be easily alter'd and destroyed by an infinite number both of external and internal causes , the divine providence knowing that nothing can be more profita●le , more agreeable , or more precious 〈◊〉 this her creature , than this incomparable benefit of health , without which all the honours , all the riches , and all the delights of the world do perpetually incommode , vex , and t●rment a man , t is therefore very wise advice , to draw out of the bosom of the earth many sorts of medicines , as well for the conservations of those persons that are in perfect health , as for the ease and cure of those that are infirm and crazy . in the mean time , as climates are very different th' one from th' other , and as several countries produce different species , so nature has distributed certain plants and drugs to some countries , which she has denied to others ; to the end that hereby she might the better favour the mutual commerce of all people , and for the better cementing humane society , at which she alwaies seems particularly to aim , since she has implanted the love and desire thereof in the minds of all , except such as are ill natur'd and men-haters , who seem to be abhortives and monsters in nature . they therefore do seem to clash with reason , who in contempt of the sacred rules of divine providence , do hold , that every country ought to be content with the sole use of its own drugs , without seeking after those things wherewith strangers and foreigners may furnish us . for is it not the meer effect of a capricious and peevish humour , to desire without any reason to deprive mankind of the use of those healthful productions wherewith nature from all parts presents him , and to hinder him from all advantages , which he may thence expect ? now amongst all the drugs whereof heaven has shewed it self liberal to men , there be three chiefly which in our time have required so great a vogue or credit , and so particular an esteem through all europe by the signal effects which they are daily found to produce in an infinite number of people , who make use thereof with good success that i have thought it a thing of great importance to communicate to the publique some discourses and treatises made on this subject , compiled and gathered together in one body , that our nation , alwayes curious and greedy of no velty , may understand the very depth and bottom of these abovesaid drugs , as well as others ; the use whereof has been but lately known amongst us , yet they become more famousevery day than other , by the frequent and dayly use we make of them , and with a success which is no less wonderful than profitable ; those three drugs which i mean , and whereof i intend to treat here , are coffee , tea , and chocolate : the two first are simple drugs , the latter is a mixt composition of several drugs . coffee grows in arabia , but the other two come from the indies , viz. the tea from the east-indies , and the chocolate ( or cacao nut , whereof it is chiefly made ) from the west-indies . the first peice i present you with in this book is a curious discourse of coffee , done into french out of an original copy in latine , not long since composed by a very learned physitian of germany , who would be nameless , to the which i have added some draughts gathered out of the works of some learned travellers on this same subject . the second treatise consists of some particular remarks extracted from the dutch east-india companies embassy to the emperour of china . from a relation of the voyage of the bishop of beryte to cochinchina . from the voyage of father alexander of rhodes : and from the medicinal observations of nicholas tulpius a a physician of amsterdam . the last peice is a discourse of chocolate , made by a spanish physician , named antonio colmenere of ledesma . i am perswaded that this little collection will be well accepted by all good men , who shall thereby be enabled to understand what excellent vertues the creator has distributed to these three foreign drugs : which shall so much the more oblige them to admire and bless the sovereign author of all these creatures , and shall render them the more desirous to make good use thereof , with continual thanksgiving , in all the distempers wherewith they shall find themselves either threatned , or really afflicted . of the use of coffee . although the use and the eating of beans , were heretofore forbidden by pythagoras , because that their flowers being spotted with a black colour , did represent a melancholly shape , and the souls of the dead that did dwell therein : and though there be others that reject them , affirming that the use of them dulls the senses , and causes troublesome dreams : yet because they serve us in the nature of victuals and physick , i shall not think my time and labour mis imployed , if i communicate to the publick , something on this subject of beans . nevertheless i don't mean to speak of our european beans ; neither of the wilde , nor those they sow , whether they be lupine , or kidney beans , or whatsoever sort ; of all which we were ever wont to make use , either in the kitchin or in the drugsters trade , since that the most famous physicians and chyrurgions have employed them in the cure of maladies internal as well as external ; viz. in the dropsie , the stone , the stoppage of the urine , the bloudy flux , loosness , bruises , and other diseases . neither will i mention the bean of egypt ; which dioscorides speaks of , which the crocodiles avoid as being destructive to their eyes , witness pliny . neither of the kidney beans of paludan garet , like the cacao nut ( whereof they make chocolate ) named otherwise coles by clusius : nor will i treat of the purging beans of carthage ; or those of ferdinand de lopez of castagneda ; which come from the isle of st. thomas . i will speak for the present of a certain bean of arabia called bon , whereof they make a drink termed coffee , which was heretofore in use amongst arabians , and egyptians ; and which is now a dayes in very great request amongst the english , french , and germanes . the first that makes mention of the property of this bean , under the name of bunchum in the 9th . century after the birth of our saviour , was zachary mahomet rases , commonly called rhasio , a very famous arabian physician , who has composed a great many excellent books , to wit , ten dedicated to king almansor , and fifteen other learned works . he was the first , that did explain what was the meaning of bunchum , assuring us that it is hot and dry , very good for the stomach , it hinders the unpleasant smell of sweat , and of depilatory oyntments . after rases divers other physicians , and particularly avicenne , explains bon under the name of bunchum . as to the choice thereof , he says that of a lemmon colour , light , and of a good smell is the best ; that the white and the heavy is naught , that it is hot and dry in the first degree , and according to others cold in the first degree . as to its operations and effects , it fortifies the members , it cleans the skin , and dries up the humidities that are under it , and it gives an excellent smell to all the body . prosper alpinus in his book of the medicines and plants of egypt , throughly describes the bean bon , and the drink they make thereof . for he sayes the grain bon is in great use among the egyptians , of which they prepare a decoction , whereof they drink in their country just the same as we do the wine in our taverns : and tho they drink it all day long , yet their manner is alwayes to take a large quantity thereof in the morning fasting , as hot as they can well indure it , it being the general opinion amongst them , that it warms and corroborates the stomach , and that it is a powerful remedy to cure all the obstructions of the bowels . it is an excellent remedy against the stoppage of womens courses , and they make often use thereof , when they don't flow so fast as they desire , they sip a great deal of it , as hot as they can drink it ; alwayes taking care to drink it by little and little : for it is the custome of every one to drink it after that manner . he proceeds further in it , saying , that the drink called coffee is much esteem'd of in those countries , the which they prepare with certain black grains , which come very near to beans . this decoction they make two ways : the one with the skin or the outside of the aforesaid grain , and the other with the very substance of the bean. that which is made of the skin is of more force , then the other that 's made with the bean it self : i have seen the tree whereon it grows in the orchard of a turkish commander , who had caused it to be transplanted out of arabia , it very much resembles the plant , called priests bonnet . the quality of this drink is cold and dry , or rather temperate in respect of cold , by reason of some heat , which is found mingled therewith : for this grain is composed of two different substances ; to wit , the one gross and terren , whereby it strengthens and corroborates , and the other is thought to be made up of warm parts , by which it heats , cleanses , and opens . this decoction has a taste not much different from that of succory , tho it has a greater power to remove all obstructions . having then took notice ; that the women in the beginning of their courses , to help evacuations , drink of it by little and little , a great quantity very hot , and in that time make great use of this drink . assisted and with this experience i begun to employ it for all women whatsoever , who by some cause or other have their purgations ceas'd or diminished , the which i have seen experimented by very many with good success ; and thence i have learned , that this sort of medicine was excellent for the stopping of womens courses , which proceeds from the obstructions of the veins in the matrice , having before hand provided for the purging of the body . this drink took in the morning fasting , mightily provokes the courses , and it is a quick and certain remedy for those women , who not having their courses are troubled with violent pains . they prepare this decoction taking a pound and a half of the kernels of this grain , peeling off the skin they roast it before the fire , and having roasted or parched it , they boyl it in twenty pintes of water . others take the grain roasted or parched , and beat to powder , and let it lie steept in water a whole day : and without any other infusion they boyl it half a way , and having strain'd it , they keep it in earthen pots stopt close , to make use thereof when they shall want it . they prepare this drink after the same fashion , with the bark of the aforesaid grain : which nevertheless they take in a less quantity , viz. some only six ounces , others nine , with twenty pintes of fountain water , which they boyl half away . this drink the arabians call caova : the berries ( as i said before ) grow on a tree much like our priests bonnet , tho the leaves are thicker , harder , and greener , and besides they are green all the year round . they use this decoction to fortifie the stomach , when it is too cold , and to help digestion , as also to remove the obstructions of the entrails : they make use of it several days with good success , in the cold swellings of the liver and the spleen . avieenne mentions these grains , and attributes the same use to them ; esteeming them to be hot in the third degree , and dry in the second ; which does not seem likely ; since it has a sweet with a kind of bitterness , without any sharpness or acrimony . we must now particularize the preparation of this drink made with coffee ; t is true , i have spoken something hereof before , but in general now i will proceed to the particulars . the coffee tree . the instrument . i have here explained in general the virtues of that wholesome drink called coffee ; tho it will not be altogether unnecessary , to relate what an eminent arabian physician speaks thereof , who more particularly declares these things that follow . the fruit bon ( says he ) is gathered in the month ab , which being took out of its shell is divided into two parts , its flowers are whitish , this bean is hot in the first degree , and dry in the second , that is to say its skin , as to the kirnel , it is altogether temperate , nevertheless it dries , but moderately and plesantly : its drink is good against catharrs and rheums , which trouble the breast : in the stoppage of womens courses , and urine , against the boyling of the blood , and the decaying of the strength 't is very necessary . this drink has got the same esteem in denmark and sweden : in which countries the great lords make use of it frequently . and especially at paris there are a great many shops that sell coffee publickly with this following commendation . the most excellent virtues of the berry called coffee . coffee is a berry which only grows in the desert of arabia , from whence it is transported into all the dominions of the grand seigniour , which being drunk dries up all the cold and moist humours , disperses the wind fortifies the liver , eases the dropsie by its purifying quality , 't is a sovereign medicine against the itch , and corruptions of the blood , refreshes the heart , and the vital beating thereof , it relieves those that have pains in their stomach , and cannot eat : it is good also against the indispositions of the brain , cold , moist , and heavy , the steam which rises out of it is good against the rheums of the eyes , and drumming in the ears : 't is excellent also against the shortness of the breath , against rheums which trouble the liver , and the pains of the spleen : it is an extraordinary ease against the worms : after having eat or drunk too much : nothing is better for those that eat much fruit. the daily use hereof in a little while will manifest the aforesaid effect to those , that being indisposed shall use it from time to time . 't is related that the turks amongst other drinks , make use of one which they greatly esteem , and which they call chaube , the same with our coffee as black as ink , and which is excellent , especially in the illness of the stomack : they are wont to drink thereof in the morning , in publick places without any difficulty , they take it in earthen or porcelain porringers , their manner is seting themselves down on the ground in a ring , every one drinks in his turn : they set the porringer oftentimes to their mouth , but they drink but a very little at a time , by reason of its extream heat . the ingredients they use in the making of this liquor , are certain fruits which are call'd buncho , by the inhabitants of the country ; being like ( as to the out side ) in greatness , and colour to the laurel berries , having two skins very thin , they say they are brought from the indies , 't is athing of small price amongst them . there is observed to be two yellow grains within , which have each of them their little several partition ▪ and resembles in colour , name , and quality , the bancha of avicenne or the buncha of rases . and for my part i shall think it to be the same thing till the learned shall better inform me , this drink is very frequent amongst them , for which cause there be very many of them that sell it in publick shops , and a great many trade abroad with this fruit in houses of entertainment . they count it as wholsome as we do our wormwood wine or other physical drinks at amsterdam this drink is sold with great commendation of the publick , for it preserves the radical moistness , strengthens the stomach , cures sore eyes , pain in the head , catharrs , palsie , gout , the dropsie , 't is good against the scurvy , breaks the stone , and eases women with child . monsieur simon pauli an eminent physician does altogether condemn the use of coffee , in a treatise concerning the abuse of tobacco and tea , for as much as it effeminates both the body and understanding , which yet it does not by cooling it too much , but because it insensibly dries by reason of its natural sulphure wherewith it abounds as well as tobacco , and the agnus castus , or park-leaves , but we ought to interpret what this learned man says of the abuse , and not of the right usage of coffee , otherwise one may as well forbid the use of rhubard , china , sassafras , and other drugs which grow out of europe . for my part i do no less blame the abuse of coffee , than that of wine : but i defend the lawful use thereof , since it is evident that many find this drink to be very profitable , taken in the morning fasting , with a little sugar , in a moderate quantity , and to very good purpose , and daily experience shews that it is very proper to cure the indispositions of the stomach , stop fluxes , and fortifies the whole body . if all those that make use of coffee , did it through a principal of daintiness and nicety , the aforesaid discourse would be sufficient to satisfie their curiosities , but the most part of those that use it are reduc't thereto by necessity , and take it rather as a medicine and not as a dainty dish : i thought i should do them a pleasure to add hereto these following remarks on the same subject , which i have gathered from the reading of some particular voyages , by which one may see that all the authors , who have treated of the properties of this sort of bean , are agreed in the same opinion , that it is most excellent in the curing of several indispositions , and most especially for those which trouble the head or stomach . fietro del lavallè an italian gentleman sirnamed the illustrious traveller , speaks in two several places of his book concerning coffee , but as that which he says of it in the first place is not very considerable , i 'le pass it over , and only insist upon his second remark of coffee , wherein speaking of the turkish liquors , he utters his mind in these terms . the turks have a drink of a black colour , which during the summer is very cooling , whereas in the winter it mightily heats and warms the body , yet without changing the substance , and always continuing the same drink , that they swallow hot as it comes from the fire , and they drink it at long draughts , not at dinner time , but as a kind of dainty , and as it were to please their palate , and to entertain themselves at their case in the company of their friends , and one cannot find any meetings amongst them where they drink it not . for which end they keep a great fire on purpose , near which they keep always ready little porringers of porcelain filled with this mixture ; and when that is hot enough , there be servants appoint●d for this end , who do nothing els● but carry these porringers to each man in the company , as hot as they can , giving them also some melon seed to chew , for the better passing away the time ; and with this seed and this drink , which they call cahue , they divert themselves in their conversations , in publick feasts or particular recreations , sometimes the space of seven or eight hours . i drank of it last summer , as a refreshment , with melon seed , and satisfaction enough ; i remember i have read somewhere that the antients did likewise use such sorts of liqours , and if that be true , there is a great deal of likely-hood that it is was the same thing : because that in many other fashions , as well of this country as abroad amongst forreigners , i find every day some foot-steps and remainders of antiquity . this drink , as i remember , is made with the grain or fruit of a certain tree , which grows in arabia towards mecca , and the fruit it produces is called cahue , whence this drink derives its name , 't is of ●n oval shape , of the same bigness as a middle-sized olive , and to make this composition they take sometimes no more than the skin , which is tender , sometimes only the kernel which is like to beans ; and they are of an opinion , that of these two juices , the one heats the to'ther cools , but i cannot well call to mind whether the refreshing is that of the skin or the other . the way to make the drink thereof , is thus : they burn the skin or kernel of this fruit as it best pleases their fancy or palate , and they beat it to a powder very fine , of a blackish colour , which is not very pleasant to the eye-sight ; this powder will keep a long time , and is always to be found in the drugsters shops . when they would drink thereof they boyl it in water in certain pots made on purpose , having a long and slender pipe to pour it readily into the little porringers , and when the water has boiled enough , they put therein such a quantity of this powder , according to the number of people that are to drink of it : they let this powder boyl with the water sometime until it sha● have lost its bitter taste , which it wou●● always keep without a perfect boyling . afterwards they pour out this liqour to be drunk as hot as the moath and throat can endure it , not suffering themselves to swallow it but by little and little , and at several times , because of its actual heat : and after it has taken the taste and colour of this powder , whereof the thick sinks down and remains at the bottom of the pot , to make use of it more deliciously , they mingle with this powder of cahue , much sugar , cinnamon , and cloves well beaten , which gives it an exquisite taste , and makes it much more nourishing . but yet without these dainties this drink it agreeable enough to the taste with the powder of cahue alone ; and if you will believe them it contributes notably to the health , helping digestion , fortifying the stomach , stopping rheums and catharrs : these are very good qualities if they be effectual . they also say that after supper it hinders drowsiness , and for that reason those that would study by night do then drink thereof . there is sold here by retail so great a quantity of it , that they say the● impost upon cahue , amounts to a considerable sum to the grand seignours profit : when i return i will bring some of it with me , and i will impart the knowledge of this simple to the italians , which perhaps at present is altogether unknown to them . if they should drink it with wine as they do with water , i durst say it would be the nepenthe that homer mentions , which helen drunk there , it being for certain that cahue is brought hither from that country : and as this nepenthe was a charm against cares and vexations , the same cahue to this day is used amongst the turks as an entertainment and past-time , making the hours to slip away merrily in conversation , intermingling with their drink several pleasant and recreative discourses , which unawares brings upon their mind this forgetfulness of sorrows which the poet attributes to his nepenthe . thevenot in a relation which he has published of a voyage into the levant set a particular chapter apart which he imployes in describing the victuals , drink , and lodging of the turks , and after having mentioned their other liqours , speaks thus ; the turks have another drink very common amongst them which they call cahue ; whereof they make use every hour in the day . this drink is made of a grain whereof we will speak by and by . they roast it in a pan , or any other utensil upon the fire , afterward they peel it , and beat it into powder very fine , and when they would drink thereof , they take a brazen pot made purposely which they call ibrik , and having fill'd it with water , thy boyl it , and when it boyls they put of this powder therein , for about two cups of water one spoonfull , and when that is boyled they take it quickly from the fire , or remove it , otherwise it would boyl over , for it rises quickly , when it has thus had ten or twelve boylings , they pour it into little dishes of porcelain , set in rank on a trencher of painted wood , they bring it you boyling hot , and it must be so drunk , but at several times , otherwise it is not good . this liqour is black and bitter ; and smells a little of the burnt too , every one drinks it by little and little , for fear of scalding their mouths , so that being in a cavehane ( for so they name the places where 't is sold ready made ) one may receive a kind of musick and divertisement by hearing the noise that every one makes in sipping . this drink is good to hinder the fumes which rise from the stomach into the head , and by consequence to cure the indisposition thereof , and for the same reason 't is good against sleeping . when our french merchants have a great many letters to write , and intend to labour all night , they take in the evening a dish or two of this cahue , it is good also to comfort the stomach and help disgestion ; in a word if you will beleive the turks 't is good against all indispositions whatever , and assuredly it has at the least as much virtue in it , as is appropriated to tea . for the taste , in drinking thereof once or twice , one may easily accustom ones self to it , and it will no longer seem unpleasant ; there be some that mix therewith cloves and a few grains of cardamome , called in latin cardamomum minus , which they name cacoule ; others put thereto sugar , but this mixture which makes it more pleasant renders it less wholesom and profitable : they drink a vast quantity thereof in the turkish country ; there is neither rich nor poor that drinks less than two or three cups a day , and 't is one of the things wherewith the husband is obliged to furnish his wife . there be many publick taverns of cahue where they boyl it in great kettles ; in these places all sort of people may come , without distinction of religion or quality , and 't is no shame to frequent these places , since many go only to recreate themselves ; there be also without the house , walls with mats on them , where those that will may sit and see all that pass by , and take the air , and there are some that play on the violin , flute and other musick , who are hired by the master of the cavehane to play and sing the best part of the day , to bring company together . when anyone that has any breeding sees another of his acquaintance come into the cavehane he will order the master not to take their mony , and that by one only word , for when the cahue is given them he cries giaba , that is , gratis . monsieur de bourges in the account he gives of the voyage of the bishop of beryte to cochinchina , reckoning up the incommodities they underwent , in the march of the caravan through the desert , sets down , as one of the most insupportable , the want of water , which they were put to much trouble to find , and oftentimes they were forc'd to use corrupted water . whereupon he sayes , as the water which they meet with is commonly naught , putryfied , to correct the indisposition which it causes in the stomach , the turks take a drink , called coffee , which begins to be used by the europeans . this drink is made of a little bean which grows in arabia near mecca in such abundance , that it is transported into all asia , and almost all the places where there be mahometans ▪ who make use of this drink instead of wine , whereas it sufficiently imitates the effects , having the property to fortifie the stomach , and to make easie the digestion , and to purifie the vapours of the head. they roast this bean in a pan afterward they pound it in a mortas , after having separated the bran by a fine sieve , they boyl this black and burnt powder in water a little while , then they drink it as hot as they can , though this liqour has not an agreable taste , but rather bitter , yet it is much esteem'd of by these people for the good effects they find therein ; which manifests the care god has to furnish all countryes with the necessary things for the advantage of men , and there is no doubt but that there be other plants in other countries which have the like virtues . the end of coffee . a new relation of the use and vertue of tea . london , printed for w. crook at the sign of the green dragon without temple-bar . 1685. of the use of tea . as i never yet met with any particular discourse of tea , i am not able to afford to the curious any other than these following remarks , which though they are very concise , yet are large enough to discover the miraculous qualities , which the divine providence has imparted to this leaf , in the cure of several indispositions , which become but too often the subject of our griefs . the author of the book intituled , the embassy of the vnited provinces to the emperour of china , printed at leyden in the year 1655. in the description which he makes of the empire , speaks thus of tea ; the most excellent leaves of cha or tea , are found in the provinces of kiangnon , and specially near the city hoeicheu ; this leaf is little , and the tree thereof is very like the shrub call'd by pliny , rhus coriarius , or curriers sumack : i do almost beleive that this is a kind of the same , however it is not a wild shrub , but a garden plant ; and further 't is no tree but a shrub , which spreads it self into divers little branches and pleasant boughs : its flowers come very near to that of sumack , only this of cha inclines more to a yellow , it puts forth its first flower in summer , which does not give much scent , and its green berry becomes blackish , its branches are cover'd with white and yellow flowers jagg'd and pick'd from top to bottom . to make this drink of cha so much esteem'd by the indians , they only look for the first leaf which comes forth in spring , which also is the most soft and delicate , they gather it with great care the one after to'ther , and separately , afterwards they presently heat it a little while , and softly , on a gentle fire , and wrap it in a very fine , thin , and smooth piece of calico , often stirring and rubbing it with the hands , then they set it on the fire again , being also wrapt up , and turn'd , and rub it the second time till it curls up together and becomes quite dry , after which they pour it into tin boxes , sealing and stopping it very close , for fear the spirits and the too subtil quallity , should evaporate , for after you have kept it a long while , if you put it into boyling water it will retake its former verdure extending and spreading forth it self ; if it be good it leaves behind it in the water a smell and taste very agreeable to the palate , and withal a greenish colour . the chinese praise it wonderfully , and set a great value on the vertues and qualities of this drink , for they use it night and day , and present it as a great rarity to those they would regal . now there be so many several sorts , and 't is so different both of price and goodness , that there is some , a pound whereof is worth an hundred franks and more , another sort you may have for ten or a dozen crowns , others for two , nay some so cheap , that will cost but two farthings a pound . it has at the least this good quality to hinder the gout , and the gravel in the kidneys , if you drink of it after meals it takes away all indigestions and crudities of the stomach , above all it helps and facilitates digestion , more especially it disintoxicates those that are fuddl'd , giving them new forces , and enabling them to go to it again ; because it eases the burden of those inconveniences which this brutal excess brings along with it , by reason that it dries and cleanses all the superfluous and peccant humours , and that 〈◊〉 disperses the vapours which cause sleep and overcome a man when he desires to be waking . the chineses have given it divers names , according to the diversity of the places where it grew , and from its innate virtues , as that of hoeicheu is the best , so they have named it slungocha , and sell it some times for 150 franks the pound . it has a blackish seed , which falling to the ground takes root , and at the end of three years produces pritty little shrubs about the height of our goosberry bushes or rose-trees , whereof they gather every year a very considerable crop , the snow and the hail not being able though never so rigorous to do them any hurt , so that i am perswaded one might easily improve this plant in the soil of europe , if its grain were sowed in some shady and fertill place . the iapeneses prepare this drink quite after an other sort than the chineses do , for of its leaves they make a powder which they drink with hot water , but the chineses drink the boyling water in the which th●se leaves have been strayned , and whereto they have contributed all their goodness . monsieur de bourges , in the relation ( which i have allready instanced , ) of the voyage of the bishop of beryte to cochinchina , speaks thus . during our abode at siam , after our dinner , which was usually of fish , we drank some tea , which they take very hot with a little sugar , we found it very wholsom ; and comparing the effects of this tea with those of wine , especially as they use it in this country , where the stomach is weakned by the extream heat , and its force is oppressed by the quality of the nourishment , it is doubtfull which of these two may obtain the pre-eminence , if not this leaf ; the use whereof is grown so common in those countries , it having many excellent properties , the chief of which is to make one that is drunk become sober . wherein 't is very different from all other liqours whereof men make use , which being drunk with excess , either weaken or quite deprive them of their understanding , whereas tea fortifies , and frees them from the vapours which hinder its effects . in the several voyages of father alexander of rhodes , the thirteenth chapter is wholly taken up , in treating of tea , and reflecting on the advantages of the people of china . he says , one of the things which in my opinion do very much contribute to the great health of this people , which oftentimes appears to the very last , in their old age , is tea , whose use is exceeding common through all the east , and begins to be known in some countrys of europe , by the means of the hollanders , who bring it from china , and sell it at paris for thirty franks the pound which they buy in this country for eight pence or ten pence , and yet i perceive that it is commonly very old and naughty . 't is thus that the french and english suffer strangers to enrich themselves in the east-india trade , whence they might draw all the best commodities of the world , if they had but the courage to undertake it as well as their neighbours , who have less means to prosper therein then our own country-men . tea is a leaf , as big , as that of our pomegranate tree , it grows on little shrubs very much resembling the myrtle tree , it is not to be purchased in any country of the world , but only in two provinces of china where it grows , one whereof is called nanquin , whence comes the best tea , which they name cha , the other is the province of chincheau , in these two provinces , there is as much care taken in the crop of this leaf as there is in our vintages . it grows here in so great abundance , that they have enough thereof to furnish the rest of china , iapan , tunquin , cochinchina , and several other kingdoms , where they so ordinarily make use of tea , that those who drink it but three times a day , are the most moderate , others take of it ten or twelve times a day , or to say better , every hour . when this leaf is cropt , they dry it well in an oven , then they put it into tin boxes , which must be well shut , for if it takes wind , 't is spoiled , and has no more strength then dead leven . i leave to you to judge if the hollanders take great care of that they sell into france . to know if the tea be good , you must see that it be very green , bitter , and so dry as to be easily broken with the finger , if it is all thus , 't is good , otherwise assure your self it is not worth much . the fashion of the chineses when they make use of this tea is to boyl some water in a little pot very clean , when it boyls well , they take it from the fire , and put therein , so many leaves according to the proportion of water , that is to say into a good large glass of water , they put about an ounce of tea , they cover the pot well , and when the leaf sinks to the bottom of the water , then is the time to drink it , for 't is then that the tea communicates its vertue to the water , giving it a reddish dye , they drink it as hot as they can , for if it should cool it would be good for nothing , the same leaf which tarries at the bottom of the pot will serve a second or third time , but then they boyl it with the water . the iapeneses take it another way , for they first beat the tea to powder , then they put it into boyling water and swallow it all together : i know not whether this way of taking it be more wholsom then the former . i have made use of , and always found that way of the chineses to be exceeding good : both of them mingle a little sugar therewith to correct the bitterness of the tea , which nevertheless methinks is not so very unpleasant . there be three principal vertues in tea ; the first of which is to cure and to hinder the pains of the head ; for my part , when i had the megrime , in taking of this tea , i found my self so very much eased and comforted that it drew out all the pain of my head : for the principal force of tea is to abate and expell those gross vapours which ascending from the stomach into the head do very much incommode us . if you take it after supper , it commonly hinders sleep , yet there be some who by drinking of tea sleeps the better , because allaying none but the most foggy vapours , it leaves behind it those that do cheifly cause sleep . for my part i have experimented it often enough , when i have been compelled to sit up all night about some extraordinary business , i needed to do no more but to take some of this tea when i perceived my self beginning to sleep , and i could easily watch all night without winking , and the next morning i was as fresh as if i had slept my ordinary time ; this i could do once a week without any trouble . i tried one time to continue waking six nights together . but the last night i found my self quite spent . tea is not only good for the head , but it has a marvellous force in easing the stomach , and helping digestion , they drink it also ordinarily after dinner ; after supper not at all , especially those that would sleep . the third thing for which tea is good , is to purge the reins of the gout and gravell , and 't is perhaps the true reason why these diseases are unknown in those countries . i have the more enlarged my self on this discourse of tea , for since my abode in france i have had the honour to see some persons of great quality and of an illustrious merit , ( and upon whose lifes and healths the safety of france does almost depend , ) who make use thereof with good success , and who have had the goodness to command me to teach them the nature and quality of this drug , the knowledge whereof i have gained by a thirty years experience . nicholas tulpius physitian of amsterdam , in his book of medicinal observations speaks thus . there is nothing more ordinary in the east indies than the drink , which is made of the decoction of a certain plant , called by the chineses , tea , by the iapaneses , tchia , whereof i shall make no difficulty to communicate to posterity , all the knowledge that has been imparted to me by those who hold the soveraign authority in these countries . as therefore the abovesaid plant has leaves long picked , and jagged round about , so on the other side its root is full of strings , and divided into two little partitions , and does not grow only in china and iapan , but also in chiam or siam : moreover there is this difference , the leaves of china are of a dark green something inclining to a black , but those of iapan , are of a more pale and whitish green , and of a more pleasant taste , which is the very reason why the tchia of iapan is much more esteemed than the tea of china , so that it often happens , that one only ●ound of tchia is sold for 100. french livres . and indeed 't is the common vogue and opinion of this country , that there is nothing more soveraign then this plant , as well for the prolonging of our days even to an extream old age , as for dissipating all that may be an hindrance or obstacle to our health , and that it not only renders the body more vigorous , and preserves it from the pains of the stone ( to which there be none in these countrys that are found subject ) but which is more , it cures all pains of the head , rheums , and soreness of the eyes , of the breast , shortness of breath , weakness of the stomach , griping of the guts , weariness , and it so evidently hinders sleep , that those persons who drink of the said decoction pass sometimes whole nights without sleeping , and overcome without any trouble , or tediousness the necessity of sleep , which otherwise were insupportable : for it heats moderately , and contracts the upper orifice of the stomach , it retains and suppresses so well the vapours necessary in the creating sleep which rise from below , that those who have a desire to spend th● whole night in writing , or studying ▪ do thereby find no manner of trouble or distrubance . noreover it is very likely that thi● plant has not been long known to the chineses themselves , and that it has been in use amongst them but 〈◊〉 small time , since they cannot find in their language any ancient word whereby to explain it , and have not any hieroglyphick characters ( such as are almost all the letters of the chineses ) by the means whereof they might express its nature . as to the manner of using this plant , we must take notice that these nations are very different one from t'other in that matter . for the iapaneses beat the same plant to powder , pounding it upon a marble stone , and afterwards mingling it well with hot water : but the chineses only boyl it in some liquor , adding thereto a few grains either of salt , or sugar , which decoction , as yet hot , they present afterwards very courteously , as well to those that being invited to dinner they treat at home , as to them that come to render them a visit : this drink they make with so great care and so nice an application of their mind thereto ; even persons of the highest quality are not ashamed , but on the contrary they take great pride to make with their own hands the decoction of this herb for their friends , or at the least assist in the mingling thereof , and preparing it as it ought to be , having expresly for that purpose in the middle of their palaces rooms set apart , wherein there are little ovens made of the most precious stones , and of most exquisite wood , reserved particularly for the aforesaid preparation , keeping , also curiously in these rooms the pots , trivets , funells , bowls , porringers , and other vessells belonging to this sort of kitchin , perfectly well wrought , and on which they freely bestow some thousands of crowns , keeping them handsomly wrapt up and folded in peices of silk , and not shewing them to any but their most intimate friends . they do also make as great account thereof as we do of our diamonds , pretious stones , necklaces of pearls of the highest price . as one may see more especially in several authours that have written of the east indies , and more particulary of china and iapan . the end of tea . a curious treatise of the nature and quality of chocolate . divided into four parts . in the first whereof is declared , what chocolate is ; and more particularly of the quality of cacao , and all the other ingredients . in the second is shewn the quality that results from that composition . in the third is taught how to make it , and how many waies the west indians use it , and which of them is the most wholesome . the last part treats of the quantity thereof , and how it must be taken , and in what time , and by what persons . by antonio colmenero de ledesma , a spaniard , physician and chyrurgion of the city of ecija in andaluzia . done into english from the original spanish by j. chamberlaine . london , printed for w. crook at the green dragon without temple bar , 1685. the preface to the reader . so great is the number of those persons , who at present do drink of chocolate , that not only in the west indies , whence this drink has its original and beginning ▪ but also in spain , italy , flanders , &c. it is very much used , and especially in the court of the king of spain ; where the great ladies drink it in a morning before they rise out of their beds , and lately much used in england , as diet and phisick with the gentry . yet there are several persons that stand in doubt both of the hurt and of the benefit , which proceeds from the use thereof ; some saying , that it obstructs and causes opilations , others and those the most part , that it fattens , several assure us that it fortifies the stomach : some again that it heats and inflames the body : but very many stedfastly affirm , that tho they shou'd drink it at all hours , and that even in the dog-days , they find themselves very well after it : and therefore it does not seem needless to me to have undertaken this labour , for the profit and content of the publick , endeavouring to accommodate this drink to every mans liking , according to the variety of things , which may be mixt therewith , to the end , that every one may choose that which he shall find most agreeable towards the cure of his infirmities . i have not seen any thing of the like nature in print afore , unless that which a physician of merchend ( a town in andaluzia ) speaks thereof , who judges the chocolate to be obstructive , because the cacao is cold and dry , and because this reason may not sufficiently avail with some persons ( that are troubled with obstructions ) to make them forbear the use thereof , i think it fit to defend this mixture and composition by philosophical reasons against all those that would condemn so good and wholesom a liquor . the use of chocolate . the first part. in this first division i affirm that chocolate is a word of the indians which vulgarly signifies no more than a cerain confection , in the which besides the other simples and ingredients the cacao nut comes in as the princpal basis and foundation ; the nature whereof first of all we must necessarily mention . chocolate therefore , or chocolatl , is an indian word by which ( as i said before ) is meant a certain paste or mixture composed of very many drugs , of which they take a certain portion to dissolve it in ordinary water , or any other liquor that may serve instead of drink . this drink is not common to all the indians , but only to those that inhabit the northern america ; and namely to those that dwell in new spain , where grows the cacao in great abundance , which is the chiefest thing in this composition , it is particularly used in mexico , whence it is transported into europe , to those places which hold great commerce and correspondence with the mexicans . i hold therefore , with the common opinion of all the world , that the cacao is cold and dry , according to the excess of its quality . our authour not speaking any thing concerning the tree which bears the cacao , we are obliged to supply his over-sight , by giving you a description thereof extracted from the works of francis ximenes , in in his book intituled of the nature of the plants and animals of new-spain , a work very curious and very scarce , which was printed not long since at mexico . the tree of the cacao call'd cucahuaguabuith ( says he ) is of the same bigness , and has the same leaves tho something larger , with the orange tree . herrera compares them to those of the chesnut tree , or for the better understanding it , like our plumb trees ; its fruit is long , and like a , melon or pumpion , but it is streakt , chanelled , and ruddy , the which is named cacahuaeinsh full of small nuts call'd cacao , somthing less than an almond , but better cimented , and of a good taste , its nuts are divided into two equal parts , well compacted and close together . it is of a fine nourishment , being of a middling taste between sweet and bitter , its temperament something cold and moist , there be four sorts of this tree , the first is called cacahuaguahuitl , which is the biggest of all , and bears a great quantity of fruit . the second is called by the same name , but of a middle size , the leaves and fruit whereof is a great deal less . the third is named xuchicacahuaguahuith , less than t'other , of which the fruit is redder on the outside , within 't is altogether like the others . the fourth sort is the least of all , so it is term'd tlalcacahuaguahuitl , that is to say , a little low tree of cacao , the which bears a fruit less than all the rest , although there is no difference between them as to the colour : now all these fruits are of the same quality , and of the same use , although they make use of the last principally in drink , the others serve rather for money and change . moreover they were wont to plant near the tree which bears the cacoa another tree which they call atlynam , to the end that it may shade it and defend it from the heat and rays of the sun , besides which it is not good for any other use . he that will may see what is further spoken thereof in the chronicles of america printed at francfort 1602. in ioseph acosta in his general history of the indies : in iean eusebe de nuremberg ; and in clusius of strange things . it is convenient to know for the intelligence of this thing , that although it may be true that every medicine , as simple as 't is , possesses and keeps in it self the four qualities of the elements . nevertheless from the acting and re-acting , which they have one upon another , there proceeds and results another quality distinct and different from these four former called complexion or temperement . this quality or complexion which results from this mixture is not always the same , neither is it of the same sort in all the mixt bodies : but it has nine kinds and differences , to wit , four simples , which have one only superiour quality ; four compound which have two predominant qualities , but however which agree very well together , and for that reason are called symbolizant , and a ninth which the philosophers call ad pondus , as if one should say a temperament exactly equal , when as all the aforesaid qualities are evenly poised , that is equal in weight and in degree . the complexion and temperament of the cacao is compounded of all these , for it has two qualities to wit , cold , and dry , which are superiour , and predominant , the which render the body wherein they are found adstringent , opilative , and making obstructions , from the terrestrial quality thereof , but furthermore the cacao being a mixt body , composed of the four elements , it ought necessarily to have some parts correspond , and proportionable to all the elements ; and it has some particular parts , and those not a few , which correspondant with the element of the air , which are the heat and moistness , which qualities are found joyned with the buttery parts , so that they draw from the cacao a great quantity of butter , which they use in making their faces shine , which i have seen practic'd in the indies by the spanish women born there , who are call'd by the spaniards croillas . against which one may make this philosophical objection : two contrary and disagreeing qualities , cannot be found in the highest degree in the same body ; as for example , the cacao is cold and dry in the highest degree , consequently therefore the cacao cannot be hot and dry in the same degree , which are contrary to cold and moisture . the first proposition is most certain , and received in good philosophy . the second is also agreed to by all the world , therefore the conclusion is most true and certain . one cannot deny but this is a very strong argument , and 't is likely that these reasons being considered by that same physitian of merchena , might induce him to affirm , that chocolate was obstructive , for he thought it contrary to all philosophy , to say that the cacao is hot and moist in the highest degree , which is certainly believed to be cold and dry . but to this i answer two things , the one is the small experience and knowledge this physician had thereof , having never seen them extract the great quantity of butter from thence ; and that , when they prepare the chocolate , without doing any thing to the powder of the cacao , but beating and pounding it sufficiently , it becomes a part firm and well compacted , which is a certain sign that it has within an oyly and viscuous matter , which necessarily corresponds with the element of the air : the other argument we shall draw from the very fountain of philosophy , wherein i shall demonstrate , that in the cacao are included different substances , in some of which , to wit , in those that are not so thick and gross , there is a greater quantity of oyly and buttery than of earthy parts , and in the condense and heavy parts there is a more earthy than oyly substance ; in the former heat and moisture are predominate , the latter are accounted cold and dry . yet it is hard to believe , that one and the same substance , and that so small as the cacao is , can contain two different qualities . yet that this may appear more easie , clear , and evident , we see it more especially in rhubarb , the which has some hot and purgative parts ; others cold , dry , and astringent , which have the power to fortifie , shorten , and to stop the flux of the belly . whosoever also shall see and consider the nature of steel , which is of an earthy quality , heavy , thick , cold , and dry , will ( methinks ) hardly be induced to believe that it is good against obstructions , but rather more fit to increase them , and yet for all that the best physitians do prescribe it as the chiefest remedy against them . this difficulty is resolved ; for supposing that steel has several gross and earthy parts , there be some sulphureous , and mercurial ; whereby it is opening , and takes away obstructions . t is true , that this does not appear , but by means of the way and preparation thereof , which is that in pounding , grinding , and beating it into a very fine powder , its sulphureous and mercurial parts , as being active subtil , and incisive , mingle themselves so perfectly and exactly with the terrestrial and astringent , that being thus mingled the one with the other , one cannot affirm that the steel is astringent , but rather that it is incisive , attenuates , and removes obstructions . we will prove this opinion by several doctrines , and first that of galen , who in the third book of the faculties of simple drugs , in the 14. chapter , at the beginning thereof ; saith , that all drugs , that are simple to the outward appearance , are altogether mixt , and by this means have contrary qualities , that is to expel , and to retain ; to thicken , and subtillize ; to condense , and rarifie ; of which there is no wonder , since that the same drugs hath the power to heat , and make cold , to moisten or dry , and that in every drug or medicament there are found parts subtil and gross , thick and thin , soft and hard , and in the following chapter of the same book ; he asserts the example of an old cock , the broth whereof loosened the belly , but its flesh was binding ; and also of aloes , the which being washed , immediately loses its purgative vertue , or that which remains thereof is very feeble . then that this difference of the vertues and qualities is found in different parts or substances of medicaments , galen shews in his 1. book of the power of medicaments , c. 17. where he particularly instances of milk , wherein is found , and from which is separated three distinct substances , to wit , the cheese , which hinders and stops the flux of the belly , the serosity or cream which is purgative , and the butter which nourishes , as he himself has explained it in the third book of aliments , and in the fifteenth chapter . this is manifestly experimented in the must or new wine , which likewise has three different substances , the terrestrial , which are the lees ; the subtlety , which is the flower or the scum thereof ; and a third which is properly the wine ; and each of these substances has its different faculties and vertues , in colour , taste , and in other accidents . aristotle in his fourth book of meteors , chap. 1. treating of putrefaction or rottenness , acknowledgeth these different substances ; as the more curious , if they will take the pains , may see at large in the following chapter of the same author , and so according to the opinion of galen and aristotle , different substances are assigned to each mixt part , under the same form , and quantity , which is very agreeable to reason , if we consider that of each aliment , how simple soever it be , there is produced , and ingendered in the liver four humours , not only different in temperament , but also in substance , and there is ingender'd more or less of such a humour , according as such an aliment has more or less parts conformable to the substance of the humour , which will be produced in a greater quantity : and so to cold diseases we order hot food , and to hot we prescribe cool . from these so evident examples , and from divers others , one may gather , that when the cacao is pounded and beaten , the substances which it has naturally different , in it divers parts are so artificially , and exactly mingled and joyned , the one with the other , the fat and buttery , hot and moist , with the terrestrial , cold , and dry , ( as is aforesaid of the steel ) that these last are quelled and corrected , so that they are no longer so astringent as before , but with a mediocrity or moderation more inclining to a hot and moist temperament of the air , then to the cold and dry of the earth , as is manifest , when we reduce this cacao to a drink : [ maradon in his dialogue sayes it is made like a spindle wherewith they spin the thred in spain ] for scarce can one give two turns with the mill , which is an instrument of wood they imploy for that purpose , but you may see a thick scum , which is a clear proof , that there are a great many buttery parts in the cacao . by this abovesaid we manifest , that those physicians are very much deceived , touching the chocolate , who affirm , that it causes obstructions because the cacao is astringent , as if the costiveness where not enough corrected by the exact mixture of the parts , one with the other ; besides , as has been said , the grinding , and there being with the cacao , so many other ingredients hot of their own nature , it must necessarily happen , that they work their effects , which is to cut and attenuate , and not at all to stop or obstruct , and certainly there is no need of other examples or doctrines , as a proof to confirm this truth , then that which we see in the very cacao ; the which if it be not pounded , and prepared as we have shewn in the making of the chocolate , [ as also the eating thereof , as it is in the fruit , by the spanish women born in the indies ] causes stoppages and notable obstructions by no other reason , but that the divers substances and parts are not so exactly and perfectly mingled together , by the chewing alone , as they are by the artificial grinding which they use therein : furthermore our adverse part ought to consider , and call to mind the first rudiments and principles of philosophy , which say , that from a particular proposition , & a dicto secundum quid , we must not draw from thence a general & ad dictum simpliciter , so that it serves for nothing , to say this man has white teeth , by consequence this man is white ; for it may happen , that a man that has white teeth may be black ; in like manner 't is a foolish thing to say the cacao is astringent , that by consequence therefore the confection which is made thereof and of other ingredients is astringent . the tree which bears this fruit is so delicate , and the ground where it grows so excessively hot , that for fear the sun should burn and dry it up , they plant there the plantane or bonona tree to be a shade , and defence to them , to secure them from the parching beams of the too near sun , and when these are great , and grown up they plant under them the cacao tree , ( those trees the indian call athlynam , vulgarly the mothers of the cacao ) to the end , that when the young and tender tree shall spring up out of the earth , the others may serve as a canopy to them . it s fruit also is not naked , or uncovered , but ten or twelve cacao nuts are as it were wedged , and inclosed in the same shell , just like a litle gourd , as big as an early fig , and sometimes bigger , of the same colour and form with the said fig. there be two sorts of the cacao , the one is ordinarily of a brown colour inclining to a reddish , and the other bigger and larger , called patlaxte , the which is great and very drying , and which by that means keeps persons awake , and hinders sleeping , and therefore that 's the reason , that this is not so proper as the ordinary cacao , and this is all that can be said , touching this fruit. as for the other ingredients which go to the making of your confection of chocolate , i find many different sorts , some put therein black pepper or tavases , the which as being very hot and dry does not agree but with those whose liver is very cold . an eminent doctor of physick of the university of mexico is of the same opinion , who , as likewise a certain religious man , worthy to be credited has assured me , that it seeming to him , that black pepper was not very proper in chocolate , to prove his opinion , and to make manifest that the pepper of mexico , called chile , is far the better , tryed this experiment in the liver of a sheep , in half of which having put black pepper , and in the other half pepper of mexico , in four and twenty hours he found that part , wherein the black pepper was , quite dryed up , but the other , that had the mexico pepper , moist and juicy as if nothing had been put therein . the receipt of our physician of merchena to make chocolate is thus : take seven hundred cacao nuts , a pound and a half of white sugar , two ounces ef cinnamon , fourteen grains of mexico pepper , call'd chile or pimiento , half an ounce of cloves , three little straws or vanilla's de campeche , or for want thereof , as much annis-seed a● will equal the weight of a shilling , o● achiot a smal quantity as big as a filbeard , which may be sufficient only to giv● it a colour ; some add thereto almonds● filbeards , and the water of orang● flowers . touching this receipt ; i affirm ●●ist of all , that by following this form ●ne cannot fit the infirmities of every ●an that is indisposed , but we must 〈◊〉 thereto or take away according to the necessities and temperament of each one . as for the sugar , though they put thereof when they drink the chocolate , i do not judge it inconve●●ent to mingle therewith the quantity which i shall name . the ladies also , and gentlewomen of mexico , ●ake little delicate cakes of chocolate 〈◊〉 daintiness , which are sold likewise in the shops , to be eaten just as sweet-meats . the cloves which the same author uses in this composition are not allowed by those that well understand the manner of making this drink ; grounded perhaps on this reason , that they bind the belly , though they have the property to correct the stinking breath , and ill smell of the mouth , as is shewn by a learned person in these verses , faetorem emendant oris carisophila faedum constringunt ventrem primaque membra juvant . that is to say , that cloves make a swee● breath , stop the loosness of the belly● and eases the stomack , when it is troubled with a hard digestion . and so these cloves being astringent , one ought not to make use of them , altho' they be hot and dry in the third degree , and though it aids the parts of concoction , as is shewed in those verses . every body uses in this confection and puts therein certain little straws , or as the spaniards call them vanillas de campeche . the description of which i have not seen in any author , nor of the plant which produces them , they seem to have deduced their name from a certain town call'd campeche , which is in the province of yu●atan in new-spain , as likewise a kind of brasil wood , which they call the wood of campeche , which the dyers employ very much in their trade , and of which there is great abundance brought into europe . they fetch it from the west indies , and are of an opinion that it is gathered from a litle shrub called cucuraqua , by the tarasquains , and quammochetl xuitzquahuitl by the mexicans ; but this wood has nothing of affinity with our vanilla's which are used in making the chocolate , the which are very pleasant to the sight ; they have the smell as it were of fennel , and perhaps not much different in quality , for all hold that they do not heat too much , and do not hinder the adding annis-seed , as the authour of merchena seems to intimate in his receit : it being certain that they never make chocolate without annis-seed , for being hot in the third degree it is very proper in many cold distempers , and allays the coldness of the cacao nut , and to the end that you may know for what cold members it may be useful and necessary i will here repeat the verses of a curious person ; morbosos renes , vesicam , guttura , vulvam intestina , jecur , cumque liene caput confortat , variisque anisum subdita morbis membra , istud tantum vim leve semen habet . which in english is , the annis-seed through its soveraign vertue cures , the diseased and infected kidneys , the throat , the bladder , the matrice , the members brought under and weakned with divers diseases , so great is the force and power of that little inconsiderable seed : the achiote is a certain dye or tincture drawn from a fruit-tree which some call achiotl others changuarica , and others pamaqua , take it as it is described by francis ximenes in the fifth book at the third chapter , it is says he a tree , in greatness , body , and shape very like the orange tree , its leaves are like those of the elm in colour and roughness , its bark , body , and branches are reddish drawing to a green , its flowers are large , distinguished or divided into five leaves in the shape of a star , of a whitish purple colour , its fruit is like the outward shell of a chesnut , of the form and bigness of a little green almond , quadrangular or four square , which being ripe opens it self containing certain grains or stone● like those of the raisins , but much more round . the savages and natives of the country have it in great esteem ; and plant it near their houses , 't is green all the year round , and bears its fruit in spring time , at which time they have a custome to lop it , for out of its wood they strike fire as with a flint-stone , its bark is very proper to make ropes , which shall be stronger than that which is made of hemp it self , of its seed they make a crimson red tincture , which the painters imploy in their colours , they make use of it also in physick , for being of a cold quality , and being drunk with some water of the same nature , or applyed to the outward parts , allays the ardour and burning of the feaver , hinders the dysenterie or griping of the guts , lastly they mix it with great profit and success in all the cooling potions , whence it happens that they mix it with the drink of chocolate to cool , and to give it a taste and fine colour , sed haec obiter . now this achiote in the quantity of a nut is not sufficient to colour so great a quantity of ingredients contained in the receit , that must be left to the judgement of him that composes this confection , who shall use as much as he shall think sufficient to give it a good colour . it is no small good to add thereto almonds , ( here our author speaking of almonds , means those of the indies and not our european ones , the description of which we will give you as ioseph acosta has it in his natural history , book 39. chap. 26. of indian almonds . there is another kind of cacao's which have in their shell a number of small nuts like almonds , of the shape of the pomegranate grains 〈◊〉 these almonds are three times as big as those of castile , and resemble them in taste , altho they are a little more rough , and are also humide , moist , and oyly ; 't is a reasonable good food , they do also use it in sweet meats for want of almonds to make march-panes , and other such like things , they call them ▪ almonds of the andes , because these cacao's grow abundant on the high mountains call'd the andes in peru , and they are so hard and strong , that to open them they are wont to strike them with a huge stone with all their force ; when they fall from the tree if they meet with the head of any one they will hinder his journey from going further . and it seems to be a thing incredible , that in the crevises or hollow of these cacao's , which are not bigger , or but little more than the others there should be such a vast number and quantity of those almonds ; but concerning these almonds , both these and all the other fruits in like manner , must give place to the almonds de chachapoyas , the which i know not how otherwise to name : this fruit is the most wholsome delicate and dainty of all that i ever saw in the indies : even a learned physitian assured me that amongst all the fruits which are found either in the indies or in spain none came near the excellence of these almonds . there be some of these that be bigger , others less then those of the andes , yet all of them are bigger than them of castil●e . they are very tender , have very much substance and juyce , very oyly , and very agreeable to the taste ; they grow upon high tall trees , very thick of leaves , and as it is a precious thing , nature has bestowed on it a coverture and defence almost impregnable , it has a skin or shell something bigger and more pointed then that of a chesnut , nevertheless , when this is dry they get the kernel out very easily . they report that the apes which are very greedy and desirous of this fruit , of which creature the country of chachapoyas in peru does greatly abound , ( which is the only country i know of , that has this sort of tree ) who to break the shell and to get the almond from thence , they strongly throw it from the tops of the boughs upon the stones , and so having broken it , they make an end of eating it at their pleasure . the filbeards also are far better than the maiz or panis which some are wont to put therein to give a better body , and strength to the composition , and therefore i would use them in all sorts of chocolate , for besides all the commodities , and advantages , which i have here before counted , they are moderately hot and have a delicate juice , especially the dry ones , the green and the new being in no wise proper , but rather hurtful according as a learned man has expressed in these verses dat modicum calidum dulcisque amygdala succum . et tenuem inducant plurima damna novae . then the filberts are not unnecessary , christopher acosta in his book of spices chap. 18. describes the indian filberts after this manner : the tree is a very great tree , strait , smooth , round , and of a spungy matter or substance , its leaves are longer and larger then that of the palm tree which bears the cacao's , and which bud out of the very top of the tree , amongst which there spring out little smooth branches , full of small white flowers , and almost without any smell , whence proceeds the fruit called areca , as big as wallnuts , yet not altogether round , but oval in the form or shape of a little pullets egg , the outward skin is wonderfully green before it becomes ripe , being ripe it becomes very yellow , like dates that are fully ripe ; this skin ▪ or shell is of a soft and shaggy substance , which contains a kernel as big as a large chesnut , white , hard , and full of little red veins , which the inhabitants eat ; being yet green they put it under the sand , to render it better and more agreeable to the taste , sometimes they eat it mixt with the leaves of bethel , other times they break it , and dry it in the sun , and afterwards make great use thereof in their eating , and in their astringent potions , with the skin they clean their teeth . there is another kind of filbert which grows in the isle of st. dominico , which is purgative , but this is not that they mix with the chocolate . these filherts therefore i say , are not altogether unuseful , since that they have the same temperament or nature with the almonds though being dryer , they come more near to a chollerick temperament , but they have also this good , they corroborate the stomach , and belly being well dryed before the fire , and as it were broyled , as they prepare it for this composition : moreover they hinder the fumes of the stomach from rising up into the brains as the same author writes . bilis avellanam sequitur , sed roborat alvum ventris & a f●mis liberat assa caput . that is to say , the filbert engenders melancholly humours , but it strenghens the weak stomach , and being well rosted , allays and depresses those fumes which would otherwise disturb the brains , and it is therefore very necessary for those that are troubled with windiness , and fumes , which from the spleen rise up into the brain , and fill the head with turbulent dreams , and frightful imaginations . those that mix maiz or panich in the ch●colate do very ill for they beget bilious and melancholy humours as is evident from the said author , crassa melancholicum praestant tibi panica succum . siccant si ponas membra gelantque foris . it is very certain that both the one and the other begets choler and windyness , and that they do not make use of this ingredient but for their own profit and to augment the quantity of the chocolate , each bushel of maiz costing them but eight shillings , bringing each pound to four shillings which is the true price of the chocolate . this which the indians call maiz we call indian or turky-wheat , which being so common amongst us there is no need to treat thereof any further , yet i cannot forbear to mention that of francis ximenes in his third book chap. 7. who seems to contradict our author speaking of it very advantagiously in these terms . the difference of the maiz is in the colour of its ears , ( which the vulgar call mazercas ) of which there is a greet difference , for some are of a white colour , others red , there be some that are almost black , others purple , blew , and diversified or sprinkled with divers colours , which is to be understood of the upper skin , for the flower of each is white ; as to the rest if there be any corn that god has made of a temperate quality and great nourishment without doubt it is the maiz ( which the mexicans call theolli ) for it is neither hot , nor cold , but a mean betwixt both , as also neither moist , nor dry , but equally participating of both temperaments , far from being of a gross and viscuous nourishment , as some have imagined : they also are very much deceiv'd that affirm it begets obstructions , but one may clearly see the contrary in the savages , who live upon it and are altogether unacquainted with opilations , and obstructions , and are never troubled with a pale and sickly complexion ; but they assure us that it is of an easie digestion , and sharpens the appetite : that even before the coming of the spaniards they never knew what were the pain of the stone or gravel in the kidneys , in fine the savages have not a better and more expedient remedy than this to resist the sharp diseases , the which experience does sufficiently testifie , for maiz boyled in water does abundantly nourish the body , and is digested without any trouble or difficulty , it qualifies and softens the breast , mitigates the heat or burning of feavers ; chiefly the powder of its root , steept in water , and exposed to the cold of the evening and afterwards drunk . then this maiz boyled is not only a laudable and wholesom food , but it may also be given without fear as well to those that are sick , as to those that are in good health ; to young as well as to old ; to men and to women of what condition soever they be , and lastly it may be used in all distempers without any hurt , or trouble , they say moreover that it provokes urine , and cleanses the pipes . then since that the maiz , used as it ought to be , brings along with it a thousand commodities , and no dammages ( unless as some affirm it breeds too much blood and choler ) one ought not to hearken to those who affirm that it is hotter than our ordinary wheat , that it is difficultly digested , and that it begets obstructions , let us rather follow the mexican physitians , who having rejected the ptisana or barly broth , as troublesom , to the distempered persons have constituted in its place , the atolle of which we will speak hereafter , i 'le pass over in silence the manner of making the bread of maiz as being nothing to our purpose , and too much a digression ; the other thing is the panick or indian oatmeal , which is a small grain like unto millet with a knob full of corn , though the vulgar european panick is not here meant , but that which grows in the indies , which if the reader has a mind to satisfie his curiosity he shall find more at large described by dodonné in the fourth part of his history of plants book the 7. chap. 26. and by dalechart in the great herbalest book 4. chap. 20. the next ingredient is the cinnamon , but it seems our author means the cinnamon of the west-indies , and not that of the east-indies , which was unknown in new-spain before the spaniards had discovered it . this cinnamon is described by monardes in his history of plants chap. 25. laet in his tenth book chap. 26. says that the cinnamon tree is as big as the olive tree , producing certain little purses with their flowers , which being pounded , come near in some sort to the east-indian cinnamon . monardes takes notice that they do rather make use of their fruit than of their bark , and that being beaten to a powder they fortifie the stomach , disperse the wind , make good breath , take away the pains of the belly , comforts the heart gives a good colour to the food being mixt therewith just like the true cinnamon . this cinnamon therefore is hot and dry in the third degree , it is good for the urine and the reins , expels cold distempers , 't is also useful for the eyes , and in effect it is a cordial as a certain author says . commoda & urinae cinnamomum & renebus affe●t . lumina clarificat , dira venena fugat . the achiote [ the virtue which our author attributes to the achiote is different from what ximenes reports thereof , for the one holds it to be refreshing , the other that it heats , yet it is not of great importance whatsoever is the quality thereof considering the small quantity that is made use of in the chocolate ] has a cutting and attenuating heat , as is evident by the ordinary practice of the indian physicians , who having proved its effects do judge it to be cutting , and rarifiing the gross humours , causing shortness of breath , which they call asthma and the stoppage of the urine and therefore 't is profitable and useful against all sorts of opilations , which we endeavour to overcome , whither they be in the breast or in the region of the belly , or in whatsoever part they be . as for the chiles some hold there are b●t two sorts of chiles or chilli , the one the eastern which is ginger , and the other western , which is the pepper of mexico , the same they call pepper of tobasco , because it grows in great abundance in that province of new-spain , from whence it takes its name . our author makes thereof four kinds , but others make more , of which number is the father iohn eusebius in the 15 book of his history chap. 80. to which i refer the curious . laet in the last chapter of his 5th . book says , that this fruit grows on a domestick or garden tree called xocoxochitl , the which is very big , whose leaves are like those of the orange tree , and yield a very odoriferous smell ; its flowers are red like those of the pomegranate tree , the same smell as the orange , very sweet and agreeable , its fruit is round , and hanging like grapes , which at first are green , a while after red , and at last black , of a sharp and biting taste , and of a good smell , hot and dry in the third degree , so that it may be used instead of pepper , the apothecaries may imploy it to the same use as carpobalsamum , the spaniards call it pepper of tavasco . i affirm that there be thereof four sorts : the first are called chilcotes , the second , which are very little , chiltecpin , which two sorts are very sharp and mordicant ; the third are called tonachiles , which are moderately hot , so that they eat them with bread just as they do other fruit , although they have a bitterish taste ; and they grow no where but in the marshes of mexico , the fourth sort is called chilpatlagua , which was a kind of chiles or pimientoes very large , they are not so biting as the two former , nor so mild as the third , and they are those which are used in chocolate . there be other ingredients that they put into this composition , the cheif of which they call mecasuchil . this plant is described by laet in his fifth book , chap. 4. there is an herb ( he says ) by name mecaxuchitl creeping upon the earth , whose leaves are great , thick , and almost round , sweet-smelling , and of a sharp taste , it bears a fruit like long pepper , the which they mix with the drink of the cacao , call'd chocolate , to which it gives an agreeable savour , it corroborates the heart and the stomach , attenuates the thick and slow humours , and is an excellent medicine , and antidote against poison , it s other vertues , as likewise the figure of its fruit , are more fully set out by iean eusebe , book 14. chap. 62. another ingredient is the vinacaxtli , but here i fear mine author may be deceived , or that there has been a mistake in the printing , and instead of vinacaxtli , he should have put huclimacutzli , which is a tree the flower whereof is called by the spaniards , flor de la oreja , or flower of the ear , because of its near resemblance with the ear : it is composed , sayes laet lib. 5. cap. 4. of purple flowers within , and green without , it is of a very sweet and pleasant smell , the name xuchinacutzli in our language signifies little ears , which are flowers odoriferous , aromatick and hot . the mecasuchil is purgative , and the indians make thereof a purging syrup . those that live in europe for went of mecasuchil may put therein powder of roses of alexandria , for those that have a mind to loosen their belly . there be two other ingredients of which our author being silent we are forc'd to supply his defect , the one is the flower of a certain pitchy or rosi'ny tree , which yeilds a gum like that of the storax , but of a finer colour , its flower is like that of the orange tree , of a good smell , which they mix with the chocolate , and repute it good for the stomack ; the other ingredient is the shale or cod of the tlixochitl , which is a creeping herb having leaves like the plantane , but longer , and thick , it climbs up to the top of the trees , and intwines it self with them , and bears a shale long , strait , and as it were round , which smells of the balm of new spain , they mix this shale with their famous drink of cacao : their pith is black full of little seeds , like that of the poppy , they say that two of these steept in water provoke urine wonderfully . see laet book 5. ch . 7. i have reported all these ingredients to the end that those that have need may choose those which they shall think most useful for the distempers wherewith they are molested . the second part . in this second part , we must observe that though they mix with the cacao , all these hot ingredients , yet for all that the quantity of the cacao is greater than all the rest , so that the others serve only to allay , and temperate the coldness of the cacao , so that of two medicaments of contrary qualities , we artificially compose one , which is temperate , and moderate , just so by the action and reaction of the cold parts of the cacao , the chocolate receives a temperate and moderate quality , very little different from a mediocrity or mean between both , and when we shall venter to say that ( in leaving out of the chocolate , both pepper and cloves , and only putting therein a little annis-feed , as we will shew hereafter ) it is purely temperate , we are able to prove it both by experience and reason : first by experience ; ( supposing that which galen says , that every temperate medicament heats that which is cold , and cools that which is hot , giving for example the oyl of roses ) with experience i say , grounded on the practice and custom which they have amongst them , in the indies , for ( i coming very much heated to visit one of my patients , when i desired some water of them to cool my self ) they advised me to take a dish of chocolate , with which i quenched my thirst , but taking it the next morning fasting it heated me and fortified my stomack . now let us prove this opinion by reason , we have before demonstrated that all the parts of the cacao were not cold ; for we have shew'd , that the buttery and oyly parts , which are in great number are hot , or at least temperate . then although it be true , that the quantity of the cacao put into the chocolate is greater and stronger than all the other ingredients together , the cold parts which correspond therewith do not amount at furthest but to the moyety , and so that altho all together come to surpass it , seeing that it remains somthing allayed , by the grinding , or rubbing together , by the means of the hot and buttery parts of the cacao , and again on the otherside by the other ingredients that are hot in the second and third degree , it must needs be reduced to a mediocrity . just as we see in two persons , that joyn their hands together , whereof the hands of the one are cold , and the others hot , those that are hot grow cold , and the cold hot , and finally both the one and the other , remain without that excess of heat , or cold which they had before , and at last become temperate . like this does it happen to those that wrastle , at first they have their forces strong and entire , but at last , by the action and reaction of the two adversaries striving together , they enfeeble and weaken themselves , so that the wrastling being ended , they remain weakned both the one and the other . 't is the opinion of aristotle , in the fourth book of the generation of animals , chap. 3. he says , that every agent suffers as the patient , so that we see , that which cuts is blunted by the thing that is cut , that that which heats is cooled , and that which pusheth or thrusteth is in some manner thrust back and repulsed . hence i gather , that it is better to make use of the chocolate sometime after it has been made than to take of it whilst new and fresh , but you must let it stand at the least a whole month together , for i judge so long time to be necessary , and very expedient , to the end that the contrary qualities may weaken and spend themselves , and be reduced to a convenient temperament and mediocrity ; for it might happen that in the beginning each contrary would impress and work its effect , and nature cannot endure to be heated and cooled at the same time . that is therefore the reason that galen in his twelfth book of the method , advises us to tarry a whole year , or at least six months , before we make use of the philonium ▪ because in its composition there is put the juyce of poppies called opium , which is cold in the fourth degree , and pepper with other ingredients , that are hot in the third degree . and this doctrine is confirmed by the practice of several learned physicians , whom i have desired to inform me which was the best chocolate , they presently answered me , that which has been kept several months , and the fresh and newly made chocolate , did do them a great deal of hurt , and did very much loosen and relax their stomach , which in my opinion is very probable ; for the fat and buttery parts , are not altogether corrected by the earthy parts of the cacao , which i will prove by the reason i shall bring hereafter , that if you should take a dish of chocolate to drink , that which is thick and buttery thereof separates it self from the rest , and relaxes the stomach , ( although it be old ) as if it were but just made . therefore to conclude this second part , we must acknowledge that the chocolate is not so cold as the cacao , nor is it so hot as the other ingredients , but from the action and reaction thereof , there proceeds a moderate complexion , or temper which may agree with , and serve as well for the stomachs that be cold , as those that are hot , provided it be took in an indifferent quantity , as i will shew you by and by , and that it has been made a whole month , as is said before , so that i know not any one , who having experimented this confection ( made as it is convenient for every individual ) can speak ill thereof , or in any wise discommend it : besides that all the world generally using it , there is scarce any one , that does not highly approve of it , through all europe , as well as in the indies . i know not therefore what reason any one has to say that chocolate causes obstructions , for if it should be so , and the liver become obstructed , it would bring a leanness on all the body , but experience teaches us the contrary , for we see nothing fattens more than chocolate , whereof i will give the reason hereafter , and so much for this second part. proceed we now to the third . the third part . in the first part having treated of chocolate , and given you the definition thereof , as likewise the quality of the cacao , and the other ingredients : and in the second of the temperament or complexion , which results from the mixture of the said ingredient . in this third part it remains to shew you how they mix it : but first i judge it not unnecessary to give you the best receipt thereof , and the most convenient i could find , and tho i have said before , that it is impossible to give a receipt , that may be proper and agreeable to all sort of persons , but that is meant for those that are distempered , and not well in health ; for to those that are in good health , this here is most fit and convenient ; but for the others ( as i have shewed at the end of the first part ) each one may choose the ingredients according as they shall be most needful to one or other distempered part of his body . this therefore is the receipt , with each hundred of cacao's you must mingle two grains of chile , or pepper of mexico , of those great grains which we have elsewhere told you are called chilpatlagua , and for want of them they use to take two indian pepper corns , the largest and the least hot that you can find , or if you can get them the pimiento's of spain , an handful of annis-seed , two of those flowers called xuchinachutzli or little ears , and two others named mecasuchil , if there be need to loosen the belly : in spain instead of these last they are wont to use the powder of six roses of alexandria , vulgarly called pale roses , a little bean cod or vanilla de campeche , two drams of cinnamon , a dozen of almonds , and as many filberts , half a pound of sugar , such a quantity of achiote as shall be sufficieut to colour the whole composition . the way of making chocolate . the cacao and the other ingredients are pounded and beaten on a stone , which the indians call metatl , made for that purpose . the first thing they begin to do is to broyl well , and carefully to dry before the fire all the ingredients ( except the achiote ) to the end that they may be easily pounded and broken , but in the broyling of them before the fire , there must be great heed taken , that they be often turned and stirr'd about , for fear of burning or becoming black ; besides which , they being too much done , lose their vertue and receive a bitter taste . the cinnamon and the pepper of mexico ought to be first pounded , and the latter of them should be beaten together with the annis-seed : the cacao is that which is to be last of all beaten , but by little and little , till you think there is so much as may be sufficient for your purpose , and every time you must give it three or four turns in the mortar . you must also take care that every one is beaten severally , and by it self , having beaten all these ingredients to a fine powder , you put them altogether in a vessel , where the cacao is , and these powders they stir and mix with a spoon , and presently they take of this past , which they begin again to pound in mortar ( or rather if they have it the forementioned stone ) under which they make a gentle fire , taking special heed , that they do not make it too gr●at and too quick , nor that you heat it too much , for fear of scattering and d●ssipating the buttery parts . you must also take notice , that in pounding the cacao you mix the achiote therewith , to the end that you may give it a better colour , and the tincture may remain , and be the better implanted therein . the powder of each ingredient , except that only of the cacao must be well sifted , and if you peel the cacao , and take it out of its little shell , the drink thereof will be more dainty and delicious . then when all shall seem to be well mixed and incorporated ( the which you may easily know if you find it without the least straw or lump ) you shall take with a spoon of this mass , which will be almost all melted and dissolved ( whereof they make little cakes ) and and put into boxes , which by that time it is cold will become hard and firm . you must observe nevertheless , that to make these cakes they throw a spoonful of the liquor on some paper , or as in the indies on some great leaves , like those of the plane-tree , our author means here the indian plane-tree and not that of europe , for the platanus of the indies was so named by the spaniards for reasons that are unknown to us , for it has no resemblance with our plane-tree , but it is rather like the palm tree , as well in shape as in the bigness of the leaves , which are so large , that they cover a man from head to foot . t is also observable , that these leaves serve for the same use as paper with us : but to the purpose ; two or three spoonfuls being thus put on one of these leaves , and set in the shade , do soon grow hard , and afterwards folding or doubling the paper , those cakes , as being very fat , are easily separated from the paper : but if you should pour it into some earthen vessel , or on some board it is not easie to unfasten those cakes , or get them off whole . they drink this li●uor in the indies two wayes , of which the first and most ordinary is to take it hot with atholle , an ancient drink of the indians , who call by this name , a drink made of the flower of maiz , well steept in water , and boyl'd to a clear liquor , or rather like starch ; but there be other different sorts thereof which are excellently well described by laet in his 7th . book chap. 3. which the curious may consult at their leasure : that discourse being too great a digression to be here inserted . with this liquor the indians mix their chocolate , and to make it more wholsom they clear the maiz , by taking away the upper skin , which is windy , and begets melancholick humours , and so there remains the best and most substantial thereof : return we now to the second manner , of taking it , which is the modern and has been introduced since the spaniards have made use of this chocolate , the which is also two fold . the first is to steep or dissolve the chocolate in cold water , and to take off the scum which they put into another dish , then to set the remainder over the fire , putting therein as much sugar as you shall judge convenient to sweeten it , and lastly it being hot and having mixed the scum therewith , which you had set apart , you may drink it . before i give you the other way of making this liquor 't will not be amiss to describe the cup or goblet wherein they drink the chocolate , made of xicara , or coco , which the mexicans call tecomates . they also make them of the fruit of a certain tree call'd by the spaniards higuero , the tree is very big ▪ which bears leaves in shape and largeness like to our mulberry tree , and has a fruit like the gourd , whereof the savages make cups to drink their chocolate , as to the palms which bear these coco's i have nothing to say to them , which yet are one of the stupendious miracles of nature , i shall only take notice with the learned doctor paludanus , in his remark on the voyage of linschot , that the coco is covered with two barks , the first whereof is rough , and hairy , of which they make the cables and cordage of a ship , of the next shell they make these cups ; the common opinion being that these cups have an innate vertue ( of which the chocolate being put therein participates ) against the apoplexy . sed haec o biter . to the purpose therefore . the second way of preparing this liquor is to heat the water , puting into this forementioned cup , as much chocolate as is thereto necessary , and withal a little water , then working the chocolate and incorporating it till it be well mixt , and dissolv'd all in the cup , put the rest of your hot water with some sugar therein , and so drink it : thus in spain . but we in england usually boyl the chocolate with the water , and some to make it more dainty , though less wholesome , use therein eggs and milk. there is yet another way , something different from this former , for they boyl both the chocolate and water together till there swims at top a fat buttery substance , taking care , that there is not too great a fire to make it boyl over : but this way i do in no wise approve of , for the fat separating it self from the earthy parts , this sinks to the bottom , and the other keeps at top , so that being thus drunk , the first loosens the stomack , and takes away the appetite , and the latter causes melancholy , &c. there is another way of making this drink of chocolate , which is cold , which takes its name from its principal ingredient , and is therefore called chocolate , whereof they take to refresh themselves , and is made after this manner . they steep the chocolate powder'd into a little water , working it well with the little mill , whence they abstract a very large scum , which is so much the more augmented by how much the cacao is more old , and rotten , this scum they put into a dish a part , mixing therewith a sufficient quantity of sugar , which done they set it up for their use , and drink it cold , when they find they have need thereof , but it is to be understood , that they do not take this sort in winter , but in the greatest heat of summer , yet thus prepared it is so extraordinary cooling , that it does not agree with all stomachs , for experience shews the ill thereof , it causing distempers in the stomach , and cheifly to women . i would here give you the cause and reason thereof , but i shall omit it , that i may not seem too prolix , and to trespass on the readers patience . there is also another way of drinking it cold , which so prepared is call'd cacao pinoli , it is made in adding to the same chocolate ( after having made the confection as we have shewed ) an equal quantity of maiz parcht and pounded , but first well cleared of its skin , the which being beaten in the mortar with the chocolate becomes a powder and mingles it self with the other , and of the powders managed as we shewed just before arises a scum which they also take and use as the precedent drink . there is yet another shorter then the former ( 't is the same with ours ) and therefore more fit for men of business , who have not the leasure to attend a longer preparation , the which is very wholesom , and 't is that i make use of my self ; whilst you set on the water to boyl ▪ you must take a cake of chocolate , which you may either pound in the mortar , or rather grate it to a fine powder , mixing it with some sugar , in a little pot , the water being hot you must pour the chocolate therein , then taking it from the fire , work it well with your little mill , and for want of that , brew it a score times , out of one pot into another , which yet does not so well incorporate it as the mill ; this being done , let it be drunk without separating from it the scum , as is usual in the aforesaid preparations . the fourth part . in this last part it remains to shew you in what quantity the chocolate is to be drunk , in what time we must make use thereof , and to what persons 'tis most proper , and agreeable , for some using it too excessively , i do not mean only chocolate , but also all sorts of food and liquors , how good and excellent soever the things are in thier own nature , do thence receive great incommodities , and mischiefs , and if some persons do complain , that it causes obstructions , 't is by reason of the excessive use thereof ; just so we see wine , which if excessively drunk instead of heating , breeds oftentimes cold distempers , nature not being able to surmount nor turn in its substance so great a quantity thereof ; so likewise those that drink too much chocolate , since that it has several fat parts , which cannot disperse themselves in the same quantity through all the body , it must necessarily follow that obstructions are caused by those which remain in the little veins of the liver , which may be remedied , if a man will content himself with five or six ounces only of chocolate in the winter time , and if he that takes thereof is bilious and subject to melancholly , instead of drinking it with common water let him use therewith endive water , the same thing is to be done in the summer , by those that would take it as a medicine against the obstructions and hot distempers of the liver ; but he that is troubled with the coldness of liver , and full of obstructions shall take the same chocolate with water of rhubard . in fine it may be safely ( if regularly ) used as long as till the month of may , especially if the air be temperate , but i do not at all approve the use thereof during the dog-days , unless by those to whom it will do no hurt by reason of an habitual custom and continual use thereof . then if any one stands in need thereof , even in the dog-days , and if he be of an hot constitution , he shall take it mixt with endive water , from four days to four days , especially if in the morning he finds his stomach to be weak , and feeble . and although it be very true , that in the indies , which is a very hot country they take it at all times , and that by consequence one might do the same in spain and in our other european countries , which are far less hot , nevertheless i answer thereto , that first we must attribute that to custom . in the second place that the excessive heat of those countries being joyntly annexed to an excessive moistness , which helps to open the pores of the body it happens oftentimes that there follows so great a dissipation or spending of the proper substance of the body , that one might not only make use of chocolate in the morning , but also all day long , without any injury or detriment . and it is also as true , that by the excessive heat of the country the natural heat is wasted , and exhaled , and that the heat of the stomach and other interiour parts of the body so extend , and spread themselves to the exterior , that notwithstanding this excess of heat the stomach remains cold , so that they receive great profit and advantage not only from chocolate ( the which as we have proved is moderately hot ) but also from pure wine , the which , though it be very hot does no hurt , but on the contrary , rather fortifies , and cherishes the stomach ; but if amongst these excessive heats , the indians should drink water , they would receive notable detriments by the coolness , which it would cause in the stomach , whereby the concoction would be corrupted , and produce several other bad distempers . you must take notice also , that the terrestrial parts , which we have said are in cacao , sink to the bottom of the cup , when you boyl your chocolate , yet there be some who think that which falls to the bottom is the best and most substantial of all , and therefore those that drink thereof do undergo great danger ; but besides that this substance is earthy , thick , obstructive , it breeds melancholy humours , so that we must avoid it as much as we can , contenting our selves with the best which is the most substantial . lastly it remains to resolve one difficulty which i have lively touched here before , that is to say , what is the cause that chocolate does so much fatten those that drink thereof ? for if we consider all the ingredients except the cacao , we shall find that their quality is rather to extenuate ; and make lean the body , than to fatten , as being all hot and dry , in the third degree . the qualities likewise of the cacao , as we have shewed you in the beginning , being cold and dry are altogether unfit to cause fatness . i affirm however that the great quantity of buttery parts , which i have proved to be in the cacao , are those which fatten , and that the hot ingredients of this composition , serve instead of a pipe or conduit to derive it , and make it pass by the liver , and the other parts till they arrive at the fleshy parts : where finding a substance which is like and conformable to them , to wit hot and moist , such as are these buttery parts , converting themselves into the substance of the subject they augment , and fatten it . one might say several others things drawn from the fountain of philosophy and physick , but as being more fit for the schools than for our discourse we shall omit them . i shall only take notice that to my receipt one might add the seeds of a melon , gourd or valenzia ( i could never find out what sort of drug this valenzia is , however one may venter to say it is of the same nature with the seeds of a cucumber , ) the which beat to a powder will be extraordinary good for those that have the liver , or the reins excessive hot , and if there happen any obstructions in the liver or spleen , with a cold intemperature , ●ou may mix amongst the rest the powder of harts tongue , or ceterach , and with all these compositions to give thereto a good odour , you may put a little amber-greece or musk. i shall receive no small satisfaction if this little treatise and discourse may be acceptable and agreeable to all the world. finis . the indian nectar, or, a discourse concerning chocolata the nature of cacao-nut and the other ingredients of that composition is examined and stated according to the judgment and experience of the indian and spanish writers ... its effects as to its alimental and venereal quality as well as medicinal (especially in hypochondrial melancholy) are fully debated : together with a spagyrical analysis of the cacao-nut, performed by that excellent chymist monsieur le febure, chymist to his majesty / by henry stubbe ... ; thomas gage, survey of the west-indies. chap. 15 ... stubbe, henry, 1632-1676. 1662 approx. 321 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 101 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a61881 wing s6049 estc r32737 12752549 ocm 12752549 93331 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a61881) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93331) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1537:23) the indian nectar, or, a discourse concerning chocolata the nature of cacao-nut and the other ingredients of that composition is examined and stated according to the judgment and experience of the indian and spanish writers ... its effects as to its alimental and venereal quality as well as medicinal (especially in hypochondrial melancholy) are fully debated : together with a spagyrical analysis of the cacao-nut, performed by that excellent chymist monsieur le febure, chymist to his majesty / by henry stubbe ... ; thomas gage, survey of the west-indies. chap. 15 ... stubbe, henry, 1632-1676. [16], 184 p. printed by j.c. fdor andrew crook ..., london : 1662. imperfect: pages cropped and stained with loss of print. reproduction of original in the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng chocolate -therapeutic use -early works to 1800. 2002-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-07 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2002-10 aptara rekeyed and resubmitted 2002-11 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2002-11 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the indian nectar , or a discourse concerning chocolata : wherein the nature of the cacao-nut , and the other ingredients of that composition , is examined , and stated according to the judgment and experience of the indians , and spanish writers , who lived in the indies , and others ; with sundry additional observations made in england : the ways of compounding and preparing chocolata are enquired into ; its effects , as to its alimental and venereal quality , as well as medicinal ( especially in hypochondriacal melancholy ) are fully debated . together with a spagyrical analysis of the cacao-nut , performed by that excellent chymist , monsieur le febure , chymist to his majesty . by henry stubbe formerly of ch. ch. in oxon. physician for his majesty , and the right honourable thomas lord windsor in the island of jamaica in the west-indies . thomas gage , survey of the west-indies . chap. 15. here [ in a certain part of guaxaca ] grow many trees of cacao , and achiote , whereof is made the chocolatte , and is a commodity of much or ading in those parts , though our english and hollanders make little use of it , when they take a prize at sea , as not knowing the secret virtue and quality of it for the good of the stomach . — videant , intabescántque relictâ . london , printed by i. c. for andrew crook at the sign of the green dragon in paul's church-yard . 1662. to my learned friend dr. thomas willis doctor of physick , and reader of natural philosophy in the university of oxon. when i first entered upon the practise of physick , i had the honour of your testimonial : and i now publickly acknowledge as well your favours , as that worth , which is universally known , and admired . were i to celebrate your panegyrick , i should not doubt to represent you as a second to harvey : and i should not fear the resentments of others , if i compared him to phrynis , whilest you are the timotheus in physick . but this is not my present designe ; but to tell you , i have finished the discourse i promised you , of chocolata : and i have augmented it beyond my thoughts , or yours . this writing , as well as the chocolata i presented to his majesty , wants that perfection , which time was to give it ; i wish it have so good fortune , to please , as that did . i shall from jamaica give you a better book , and ( i believe ) better chocolata . and it is my resolution so to employ my self there , that i may not fail the expectation so many eminent persons have of me ; nor will i ever see england , but with the satisfaction of having done something considerable . that you may know how great incentives i have to study , besides my own unspeakable inclinations ; there are more then ordinarily interested in me , besides the king's majesty ; who alone is so great a promoter , and so competent a judg of merit , that to an ingenuous person there needs no farther inducement to deserve . but , besides him , there is the honourable robert boyle esquire , dr. quatremain , dr. ●rasier , physicians to his majesty , and several other honourable and learned personages . but , amidst so many concurring favourers , and abettours , if i tell you , that i allow a peculiar esteem , and remembrance for dr. willis , it is no more , then the real sentiments of one , who infinitely admires you , who is sir , your obliged humble servant henry stubbe ▪ london , april 12. 1662. the preface to the ingenuous reader . it is long since , that i designed a particular enquiry into the nature of man , and what it is , that we call life , and by what means it is to be so preserved , that we may enjoy in this world an undisturbed health , and serenity of minde , together which those other comforts , the promise whereof is peculiarly annexed to the fifth commandment , according to the septuagint ; honour thy father , and thy mother , that it may be well with thee , and that thy days may be long in the land , which the lord thy god giveth thee . this felicity , since that god put so great a value on it , that he generally in scripture makes it a type of the celestial enjoyments hereafter , and illustrates them hereby , as being no odious comparisons ; and since the result of solomon's wisdom , regulated by inspiration , and experience , amounts to this ; that he hath perceived , and seen , that it is good , and comely , and that there is nothing better for a man , then that he should eat , and drink , and enjoy the good of all his labour ; upon these considerations , i did think it merited my peculiar regards : and howbeit the preached , but unpractised ( and in many parts false , and fictitious ) doctrine of mortification did seem to condemn such enquiries ; and the promulgation of them might seem to encourage , or instruct men in sensuality , ( a thing inconsistent with christianity , and that course of life , which i have followed so , as that presbytery it self , that is , malice and dis-ingenuity heightened with all the circumstances imaginable in men on this side hell , could never fix the least imputation upon me ) yet i thought , i ought not too much to respect accidental abuses ; not to regulate my self by what seemed fit , or true to others , but what was really so , and conformable to god's word , and the primitive practise : both which ( if we make not the opinions of monks , and men retired unwarrantably extra seculum , to be the sole standard of truth , and practise ) did not repugn with my designed speculations . the late changes in our nation have disengaged me from my former adherencies ; and i have no longer a regard , or concern for sr. henry vane , or gen. ludlow , then is consistent with my sworn allegiance . and i think , his majesty is of so generous a nature ; and of so transcendent a grandeur , that i shall as litle offend him by this declaration , as i shall by the following course of my life , wherein i shall make him all those returns , that the most deserving , and the most obliging person , and prince , may exspect from an ingenuous and resentive servant , and subject . it is but fitting , that so unparallel'd a candour , as his majesty hath practised , should meet with reciprocal acknowledgments : and however it be accounted the fate of kings , to do well , and to be ill spoken of ; i think it a very hard destiny : and , though i have a very despicable opinion of the present age , yet i hope it will not be guilty of any such unworthiness towards our sovereign . i shall make it my publick profession , never did any ( saving , that i never violated a sworn allegiance , nor took the covenant , nor subscribed the engagement ) never did any ever offend , or experiment a greater goodness . i go not about to extenuate my crimes by saying , rebellion loses its name , where presbytery is opposed ; or , that the attempt in me was but the acknowledgment of uncommon favours received from others . i am indebted to his majesty for more , then an act of indemnity and oblivion . his liberality hath prevented my services , and i already have had that honour and reward conferred on me , which to deserve i must change my resolutions into actions , and be what i intend . were my king of a less merit , i should fear , that what i say might be apprehended not as the dictates of truth , but occasioned by a sence of duty , or flattery : but he possesseth all heroick virtues in so peculiar a maner , that envy it self must say , that it is want of time , or deficiency of language , not want of a befitting subject , which makes me to enlarge no further . i promised my ever-honoured and learned frind dr. willis an account of chocolata : and being detained beyond my expectation at london , to receive the benefit of what his majesty had given me by way of advance to go into iamaica , the right honourable the lady windsor , a lady , that ows her elogy and title not more to her degree , then worth , gave me occasion to renew those intentions , and to make some essays in compounding chocolata ; which first found her approbation , and then the kings , had i written before , i could only have given an account what others had said , or done ; now i can vouch my own experience , and that i am not altogether unacquainted with what i write of . i know , that time and opportunity might have polished the work , and better'd my enquiries . if i was impatient to do nothing , i had not leasure almost to do any thing . i have given as good an account of things , as i could either from my own little tryal , or the report of others . i have represented each authour in his own words : and where i seem to speak concerning the modern practise in spain , my intelligence is not the less true , because the margin doth not warrant it by some citation . sundry digressions are rather attempted , then pursued ; but , if i live any time in iamaica , i shall in a second edition correct the imperfections of this ; many whereof are unavoydable to me , because i have not seen the ingredients of chocolata growing , nor made such analyses of them , as are requisite to discover their nature . i write not out of a designe to advance the repute of our west-indy commodities in the making chocolata . what i say is the assertion of others , who did not intend by their writings to serve the english interest in iamaica . the spanish dr. iuanes de cardenas says as much as i do , viz. that persons of a vigorous and healthy constitution ought not to drink the same chocolata with others of a more cold and phlegmatick complexion : but to have a composition of their own mixed with fewer spices , and those of west-indy growth ( which , he saith , were created for that use ) and to be taken with a●olle . his words are los tales ( sc. those of a complexion inclined to heat ) beban le con atolle ( that being of a temperate nature ) y echenle m●i poca especie , y essa antes sea de la tierra ( sc. of iamaica , or tabasco ) que de espanna , por que la de aca parce , que solo fue criada para esso . nor have i more endeavoured to serve my self , then the island in the subsequent discourse : for i obtrude not on the world a bad chocolat● , having shewed the errours and hazards in the vulgar compositions , but what his maj●sty approved a [ then whom there can be no more competent judg ] and what hath received the commendation of others well-acquainted with the variety of chocolata , sold , and made in this nation . i have set down the ways of ledesma , and zacchias , and the way , by which the chocolata is commonly made . and i have left in the hands of an honest though poor man , richard mortimer in sun-alley in east-smith-field , both my common chocolata-receipt , and that other of chocolata-royal ; both which are fitted for the use of such as are inhealth , or not of a very weak stomach , being made up with milde spices of iamaica , and such , as may securely be used by the most healthy . they , who would have particular chocolatas made , may have recourse to him , and rely upon his honesty to prepare them carefully according to my method : which , though infinitely laborious , he is resolved to follow . i chose him , because i found him , of all others , tractable to observe my directions , and to make what experiments i pleased : he lived in spain many years , and is as skilful , as honest . he will attend on any physician of note to receive his directions , as also to inform him , ( if he would vary from my ways by any addition ) what may be added , and what quantity to each proportion of chocolata . i gave him the receipts not only as a reward for the pains and trouble i put him to ; but out of a sense of publick utility , there being so many frauds in the making of it : it being so ill wrought up ( whence comes the setling ) besides the mixture of several ingredients either hurtfull , or impertinent . the way i make my chocolata-royal agrees almost altogether with that , which is followed in the court of spain , where the mixture of anise-seeds , nutmeg , and maiz is disused , and confined only to the common chocolata-sellers . whilest ( to give you the words of a learned spaniard ) this other composition seems to have all that perfection , which attends the last designs , and contrivances of men , after many fore-going tryals ; and which is observed to displease no body : all the change of ingredients for so many years past did but prepare way for this ; which he observed to continue in a very good body , the ingredients exactly fermenting , and having an excellent scent : and the taste is neither hot , and biting , nor totally insipid . i shall not vary any thing from my way here in england , but perhaps at iamaica i may improve it much , both in the making it up , ( which i suppose may better be done there , then here ; but will give no reason , till i see it to be true ) and in the adding some ingredients ; which if it succeed , i shall take care , that england know it , and have the benefit thereof . because that richard mortimer lives so far of , i have appointed , that his chocolata of both sorts shall be to be sold at captain beckford's at the custom-house-key : the best chocolata , call'd chocolata-royal , will cost six shillings six pence each pound , weighing about thirteen ounces , or somewhat more : the ordinary chocolata , weighing about fifteen ounces each pound , will cost three shillings and eight pence . and in the same place they may be furnish'd with the best cacao-nuts , which i could yet ever see in london ; and also with iamaica-pepper . i shall conclude with this premonition : that the ensuing discourse was written at a great distance from my own library , in a place , where frequent interruptions , and diversions scarce ever yielded me an hour's leisure entire to my self : and , as this is a sufficient excuse for its many imperfections , so it must particularly apologize for several repetitions , which will occurr ; for having not time to review what i had , written , and being willing to omit nothing , i have , i believe , repeated several times the same thing . but , if it please god , i arrive safely at iamaica , and enjoy that settlement , which i promise my self from the right honourable the lord windsor , ( my singular good friend , and patron , and the worthy governour of iamaica under his majesty ; one in whom concurr those qualities , that might justly recommend him for so important a charge to the choice of the best and wisest of princes , loyalty , valour , prudent conduct , moderation , and affability ; and under whose government no man ought to entertain other despair , then what his own worthlesness creates in him ) when i shall be safe and secure there , and amidst my own books , as well as the simples mentioned here , then i will revise , and so enlarge this work , that nothing shall be wanting thereunto . nunc te mar moreum pro tempore fecimus ; at , tu , si foetura gregem suppleverit , aureus esto . and , as i shall endeavour wholly to oblige man-kind with further observations and enquiries concerning chocolata : so , i hope , my example will stirr up others to the like performances ; and that persons of ingenuity will either publish their observations , or dir●ct them to me , and leave them either with the lady windsor , or with mr. andrew crock in st. paul's church-yard , book-seller , to be sent to me , that i may not be ignorant of what effects chocolata , or its particular ingredients have here in england ; what new preparations and mixture of the cacao-nut , or spirit , or oyl are successfully contrived , or ingeniously , to inform , or otherwise benefit men : and i do here solemnly profess , th●t i shall render all such persons their due acknowledgment in publick , and shall readily serve them any way , during my being in iamaica . a discourse concerning chocolata . chap. i. concerning the name of chocolata , and its being universally used ▪ the drink called ordinarily chocolata is by the indians called a chocolatl : and is compounded of atte , as some say , or , as others , atl , which in the mexican language signifies water ; and from the sound , which the water ( wherein is put the chocolata ) makes , as b choco , choco , choco , when it is stirred in a cup by an instrument called a molinet , or molinillo , untill it bubble , and rise into a froth . i shall not pursue other derivations of the name , it being sufficient , that we understand one and the same thing by the several appellations of chocolatl , chocolata , ( so it is usually called ) chocolatte , as mr. gage names it ; or chocholate , as c acosta ; or succulata , as d mynsicht terms it ; or e cacaotl , and f cacaoatl , and g cacauatl : all which names it bears in the mexican herbal , as well as that of chocolatl aforesaid . in america several countries have several drinks made out of roots and fruits variously prepared . the northerly h tract thereof principally seems to use the drink called chocolata , in new-spain , mexico , and the neighbouring provinces . if we may believe dr. iuanes de barrios , who lived in those parts , it hath been immemorially drunk in the province ●f guatimala , and as particularly appertains to that country , as mead to lithuania , and ale to england ; however it may have diffused it self into other parts . and indeed it hath prodigiously spread it self not only over the west-indies ; but over i spain , portugal , italy , france , high and low germany , and england , yea turky , and persia : and hath been recommended by sundry learned k physicians to the world . so that it may well merit our regards to enquire into the nature and reason of a drink endeared unto us by so great a repute ; as the general usage of the nobility and populace of both sexes , and the authority of the learnedst and most observing persons can give it . it is so generally used in the spanish colonies of the west-indies , by the natives , and other inhabitants : that it alone makes up both the necessary provision for their sustenances , and their delicaci●● for extraordinary entertainments for pleasure . this is confirmed by the general vogue of the indian writers : and whosoever shall have read mr. gage will no longer doubt it , when he shall find , besides the particular chapter , in which he designes a special account of it , ( most of which is transcribed out of anton. colmenero de ledesma ) how at sundry times he was treated therewith by way of a magnificent collation : and , being to travail , he makes a store of chocolatte to be as important a care , as any for a journey . in spain it is drunk all summer , once , or twice a day ; o●● indeed at any time , by way of entertainment : for however physicians there endeavour to confine the people to rules , yet is it generally drunk without regard to any : and it is there , as well as in the indies , all the year long . it is drunk , by the allowance of the physicians , once , or twice each day : and by the prevalence of custome , as often as there is occasion for entertainment , or that one is tyred through business , and wants speedy refreshment . there is a controversy about the convenience of taking it in summer ; since anton. colmenero disallows it beyond may. but others , as learned and observing as he , permit it all the year : and for experience ( which he takes notice of ) they vouch the general practise of sevil , both of the king , court , and city . nobis videtur consultissimum omni aestatis tempore potionem sumere chocolatis . et , si ad comprobationem valet experientia , hoc in communi vita civi●m hispalensium ( cum sit haec calidissima regio ) ita feliciter sentitur ab omnibus , ut illo carere sit apud illos infelicitas major . et huic accidit , quod illo tempore sit hominum natura laxa maxime , & fere dissoluta : & , si verum fari licet , neminem per haec tempora video a chocolate abstinere , neque inter intemperantes proceres , neque temperatissimos hispaniae reges , nec mediae fortunae cives . et nobis certe videtur , nullo magis tempore , quam aestate prodesse chocolate . i think it most fit to take chocolate all summer long . and , if we recurr to experiments , this is the general practise of the inhabitants of sevi●● ( which yet is a most hot country ) so that they count it a great misfortune to be deprived of it . besides , at that time of the year , our bodies suffer a greater exolution of spirit , and are more relaxed in their pores , then at other times . and , to speak the truth , at this time of the year , i observe , that neither the most intemperate courtiers , nor the most temperate kings , nor vulgar citizens do refrain it . and i think it never more necessary , then at that season of the year . to evidence further the prevailing use of chocolata , we are to know , that in spain , as well as the indies , people will not refrain it on fasting-daies ; and it is become a case of conscience managed with more then ordinary contests , whether the taking of chocolata be a violation of ecclesiastical fasts ? the moralists and physicians divide upon it : nor is there one considerable argument produced for the necessity of taking it on fast-days , and so of reconciling it to ecclesiastical fastings , but that of custome : which how authentique an argument it is in this ●ase , i leave to the disputes of others ; being content to have proved the universal acception of this drink amongst the most sober and wisest of me● . chap. ii. concer●ing the composition of chocolata . being now to speak more particularly of chocolata , to prevent ambiguities , i must tell my reader , that however i have in the foregoing chapter spoken of chocolata as a drink , accordingly as it is ordinarily mentioned by writers , and in vulgar speech ; yet now i shall speak of it as a paste , or mass , made into cakes , lumps , rouls , lozenges , or enclosed in boxes , ( as it pleaseth the worker to make it up ) which is to be dissolved in the water , and so makes but a part of the potion , or drink , yet is ordinarily termed chocolata , though not without some impropriety of language , if we credit the already-mentioned derivation of chocolatl . the indians , as they in all things almost affect a simplicity , so in the making of chocolata they did not multiply ingredients ; and cared rather to preserve their health , then to indulge their palates : of which they have been so sollicitous , that , had not the spanish luxury and curiosity varyed its composition with multiplicity of mixtures , either we had never been acquainted with this drink , or we must have been contented to be treated , as the invincible cortez was by motezuma , the last and most illustrious king of mexico . bernaldus del castillo , one of cortez his souldiers , relating his own exploits under that famous general , in his chapter entitul●● , a de la manera y persona del grande motezuma , y de quan gran sennor era , makes report of the stately banquets of that prince ; and adds , trianle frutas de todas , quantas avia en la tierra , mas no comia , si no mui poca , y de quando en quando : trajan unas como copas de oro fino , con cierta bebida hucha del mesmo cacao , que dessian era para ten●r acceso con mugeres , ( en este lengua se habla ) enforces no miravamos en ello mas lo que yo vi , qua trajan sobra cinguenta jarr●s grandes hechos de buen cacao , con su espuma , y de lo que bebia , y las mugeres le servian al beber con gra● ocato : ● al tiempo del comer le assistian algunos indios , truanes que le desian gracias , y otros que le cantavan , y bailavan , por que el motezuma era mui afficionado a placer ; y aquellos mandaua dar de los relieves , y jarros de cacao . that is , they brought in the several sorts of fruits , which they had in their country , but they eat but a very little of them , and that but leasurely , and at intervals : they brought some in cups of fine gold , with a certain drink made of the cacao it self , which they said was effectual to provoke lustful desires towards women ( as they told us in their language ) in which we admired noth●ng more , then that they brought in above fifty great jarrs made of good cacao , with its froth , and that they drank it , the women serving them with a great deal of respect : and when he [ motezuma ] did eat , several indians stood by him , w●●●h gave thanks , and others , which sung to him , and danced before him , motezuma being much given to pleasure : and he commanded the reliques of his feast to be given away , and the jarrs of cacao . and a little after he saies , luego comien los de su guarda , y otros muchos sus serviciales de casa , y me parese , que sacavan sobre mil platos de aquellos manjares , que dicho tengo : pues jarros de cacao , con su espuma , como entre mexicanos , se ●ase mas de dos mil , y fruta infinita . that is , afterwards his guards , and other servants did eat , and , i think , they had above a thousand dishes of the aforesaid delicacies . after which they had brought to them jarrs of cacao , with its froth , according to the mexican fashion , to the number of two thousand at least , besides an infinity of fruit . here is no mention of any thing , but jarrs of cacao together with their froth : which could not have frothed so , had they not been preparations of cacao nuts made into a paste , and reserved in cakes for the sudden use of a thousand cups ; they were dissolved in water , and frothed by agitation of the molinet : for without such agitation the cacao would not froth , nor would it continue in a froth , unless that some of the meal of indian wheat , or maiz made into atolle , were mixed with it . and this i find to have been the first composition of chocolata . b in acute diseases to a●ay heat and fervour , and in hot distempers of the liver , they gave the cacao nut , punned , and dissolved in water , without any other mixture . in case of the bloody flux they mixed the said nuts with a gumm called olli , and so cured them miraculously . nor did they acquiesce in simple preparations of the said cacao nut ; they took of cacao nuts , and a grain called c pocholt , of each an equal quantity , & grinded them together in equal proportions ; and , when they used it , they took that paste , and dissolved in an earthen vessel , and agitated it with a molenillo , till the more oily parts and fatty did swim on top : then did they take of the said unctuous part , and put to the rest some meal of indian wheat , and having reduced it to a potable liquor , they did remix the oyl , or fat , taken off before , and so drunk it luke-warm . and this is the chocolatl , of which hernandez speaks , and calls peculiarly by that name in his chapter concerning cacaua quahuitl , or the cacao-tree . and that this was the primitive chocolata seems evident from what d benzonus says , who lived there amongst the first planters . he travailed through the kingdom of nicaragua , and observed , that they made a certain cooling-drink of the cacao nuts : they grinded th● nuts into a paste , and , when they used it , they dissolved it ( ●eing pouder'd ) and milled it , tempering it by little and little with water in an indian cup : and sometimes they added a littl● pepper ; and this was their ordinary drink ; which they did drink themselves , and ●ave to wearied travellers , as well as to the sick . this they offered to benzonus , and when he with an abhorrency refused such a drench , they admired , and laughed at him . but certainly it was not improved to any deliciousness of tast , since he saith it was bitterish , and that it was more fit to be hogs-wash , then drink for rational men . the same may be collected from e acosta , who saith , that the chiefest use the indians make of cacao is in a drink , which they call chocholate , whereof they make great account in that countrey , foolishly , and without reason : for it is loathsom to such , as are not acquainted with it , having a skum , or froth , that is very unpleasant to taste , if they be not very well conceited thereof ; yet it is a drink very much esteemed amongst the indians , wherewith they feast noble-men as they pass thorough their country . this is that original chocolata , to the use whereof the indians were brought , not by any delicacy of the tast , but evident testimonies and ●●nse of its great utility . hujus potionis long a experientia satiati , utilibus admoniti ; so saith dr. iuanes de barrios , who lived there immediately after the conquest ; as also did hernandez , and benzonus , and acosta . it is then clear , that the indian ordinary chocolata was made of the cacao nut , and meal of indian wheat , and water , and pocholt , and now and then some pepper called chille , which was put in , more , or less , according to the necessity of the patient's stomach , or other circumstances : so that they made divers sorts of it , some hot , some cold , some temperate , and put therein much of that chili , or chille . so saith acosta in the place above-mentioned . and i observe , that hernandez , though in the making up of chocolatl , where he speaks of the composition of it , ( which is to be supposed the ordinary one , because absolutely and indefinitely mentioned there ) he add no more ingredients , then i have already mentioned , yet in other places he tells us that for weak , f phlegmatique , and windy stomachs , they added xochinacaztli , or your g orichelas : so they added tlilxochitl , or the h vaynillas for the like ends , and to strengthen the brain , and womb . to give it an adstringency , and to strengthen a stomach debilitated , and prone to a flux , or diarrhaea , they added i achiotl , or achiote . so , in case of cold stomachs , and phlegmatiqu● obstructions , they added k mecaxochitl ; which anton. de ledesma and gage call mecasuchill : and paulus zacchias , mecacu●e . and , in case of coughs , they added l t●peyantli . but , besides these drinks , confessedly owned by hernandez under the name of chocolata , there is another , which however it be not reckoned as a sort of chocolatl , but distinct from it , yet was it made of cacao nuts , and seems ●o have been a leading drink to the chocolata now in use : and it is called by hernandez the m compounded atatexi . the simple potion of atatexli is made of one hundred cacao nuts , crude , or prepared , and beaten well , and so mixed with as much prepared maiz , as can be taken up betwixt both hands joyned together . compounded atatexli was made by the addition of mecaxochitl , or mecasuchill , xochinacatzli , or orichelas , and tlixcochitl , or vaynillas . these were powdered , and mixed with the rest afore-mentioned ingredients of simple atatexli , and being well milled , they powred them out of one vessel into another , lifting it up on high , that so it might richly froth , and the more fat and oily parts swim on the top , and render it more pleasant . this potion was not used for sustenance alone , or as a drink invented by an enforcing necessity , but , out of a luxurious designe , to provoke lust : whereas the simple atatexli did refrigerate . i must beg pardon of my reader for representing so i● perfectly the aforesaid indian drinks ; for the mexican herbal is so defective , as it is pub●●shed in latin ( for the spanish is incomparably better , if i may judge thereof by some citations , i have seen ) that i have the satisfaction by omitting nothing that is material in that book ; that whosoever , with no greater helps then i have , should engage in the same affair , would not discharge the employment better then i have done . when i consider the aforesaid compounded atatexli , and compare it with the present compositions of chocolata at this day recorded , i cannot think , but what we use at present is the descendent of that atatexli , and not of chocolatl : for the ingredients are cacao-nuts , mecaxochitl , orichelas , and vaynillas , are the same ; the manner of useing it the same : and , at this day , the indians and black-moors n do mix maiz with their cacao-nuts in the grinding , putting in withall achiote , anise-seeds , and a few chiles , or red pepper . and , now i come to speak of the present ways of making chocolata , i shall represent those ways , which are authenticated by physicians ; and among these that of antonio colmenero de ledesma first occurs . o to every hundred nuts of cacao he put two cods of chile called long red pepper , one handful of anise-seeds , and orichelas , or orejaelas , and two of the flo●ers called mecasuchill , one vaynilla● , or instead thereof ( if the party were costi●e ) ●ix alexandrian roses beaten to powder , two drams of cinnamom , twelve almonds , and as many hasel-nuts , half a pound of sugar , and as much achiote as would colour it . paulus zacchius in his italian discourse about hypochondriacal melancholy doth propose this way . p take twelve pound of cacao nuts finely powdered , of cinnamom finely powdered one pound , half a pound of anise-seeds , six vaynillas finely powdered , four handfulls of the flowers of mecacuce , or mecaxochitl , of maiz three pound , one pound of ai●nzoli ( or half a pound of sweet almonds ) bruised and well beaten , of achiote half an ounce , of sugar four pound , or as you please . instead of mecaxochitl , and the vaynillas , he allows to substitute one nut●eg , and twelve cloves . out of these he bids us frame a mass . besides these prescripts , other receipts put in other ingredients with a great variety , and difference one from the other : some put in a proportion of black pepper ; some of long pepper ; some retain that of chilli , or long red pepper ; cinna●mom , cloves , almonds , hasel-nuts , orejuela , vaynillas , musk , amber-grease , orange-flower-water , are things usually put in , or omitted ; as also nutmeg●● ▪ imon and citron-pill , cardamoms , fennel-seeds , chymical oyls of nutmeg and cinnamom , and the most delicate spice called iamaica-pepper ; nay and achiote too is sometimes left out , or changed for santals , according to the devise of the chocolata-maker , or particular exigency of the patient's disease . in the common chocolata sold so cheap there is not any thing , but eight ounces of the nuts q prepared , and powdered , seven ounces of sugar , and one ounce of spice ; viz. half an ounce of cinnamom , two drams of iamaica-pepper , or other pepper , and as much of cloves , nutmeg , and limon-pill , some colour it with achiote ; some decline to do so , some put into each pound , to make it extraordinary , six grains of red pepper , or chiles . the iews at amsterdam put in bean-flower usually , instead of maiz. in the making of it up these directions are given by mr. gage . the cacao and other ingredients must be beaten in a mortar of stone , or ( as the iadians use ) ground upon a broad stone , which they call metal , and is only made for that use : but first the ingredients are all dryed , except the achiote , with care , that they may be beaten to powder , keeping them still in stirring , that they be not burnt , or become black : for , 〈◊〉 they be over-dryed , they will be bitter , and lose their virtue . the cinnamom , and the long red pepper are to be first beaten , with the anise-seed , and then the cacao , which must be beaten by little and little , till it be all powdered : and in the beating it must be turned round , that it may mix the better . every one of these ingredients must be beaten by it self , and then all be put into the vessel where the cacao is , which you must stir together with a spoon , and then take out that paste , and put it into a mortar , under which there must be a little fire , after the confection is made : but if more fire be put under it , then will warm it , then the unctuous part will dry away . the achiote must also be put in in the beating , that it may the better take the colour . all the ingredients must be searced , except the cacao : and , if from the cacao the dry shell be taken , it will be the better , where it is well-beaten , and incorporated ( which will be known by the shortness of it ) then with a spoon ( so in the indies it is used ) is taken up some of the paste , which will be almost liquid , and made into tablets , or else without a spoon put into boxes , and when it is cold it will be hard . those , that make it into tablets , put a spoonfull of the paste upon a piece of paper , ( the indians put it on the leaf of the plant in the tree ) where being put into the shade , ( for in the ●un it melts , and dissolves ) it grows hard : and then bowing the leaf , or paper , the tablet falls of , by reason of the fatness of the paste ; but , if it be put into any thing of earth , or wood , it sticks fast , and comes not off without scraping , or breaking . i never saw any chocolata made up in a mortar , my self ; nor do i understand how the mixture can be accurately made therein . some beat the spices severally in a mortar , and searce them curiously : but , as the vehement agitation of the pestle doth dissipate the more subtle parts , ( and it is long in doing ) so it doth not equally break them into small particles , notwithstanding their passing the searce : i conceive it a much better wa● , to beat the greater spice grossly , and afterwards to mix the vaynillas , cut into pieces , and dryed , and so to grinde them on a stone-table ( such as are made on purpose to make up chocolata ) and so with less trouble , and less dissipation of spirits , and subtle parts , ( a gentle fire being under ) will they grinde to an impalpabl● powder , ( each acting upon other in th● grinding , as well as being pressed by the iron rowler ) and , besides that , mix most accurately . the spicery being thus prepared , the cacao nuts are dryed either on a digesting furnace , or in a kettle over the fire , stirring and turning them carefully , that the nuts may so dry as to shell , but not to burn : for then the chocolata will be bitter . being pill'd , or shell'd , the nuts , being cold , will beat to a powder , which you may searce , ( as you do the spice ) which is the best way , and practised by the best chocolata-makers in spain , and by my self always . the hulls also , many of them ▪ are beat by themselves , & mix'd afterwards with the nut , and spice , to compound chocolata ordinarily in spain , and by many in england , to make the common chocolata . and mr. gage , and piso , whilst they say it is better to leave out the hulls , leave us to conjecture , that many put them in all . having thus prepared the spicery , and nuts , they are to be mix'd , and g●inded on a table , with a gentle fire under it . in the working , if the fire be too hot , the nuts will run into too great an oyliness , or dissolution of the fatty parts , and the chocolata will not keep any time . if it be too cold , it will not work , but stick to the rowler . from whence we may judge of the controversie , whether an iron , or stone-table be best : for on a thin iron-table it is impossible to preserve an equal heat , and consequently some parts of the cacao nut will be reduced to too great a dissolution and unctuousness , and others to too little : and this inequality must needs occasion an unequal mixture of parts , and consequently a propensity to corrupt : besides that they are enforced to make it up too soon ( it growing too oylie ) before the parts are equally mix'd . but under a thick stone-table each degree of encreasing heat is soon observ'd , and remedied . i must also add , that an iron-table works the chocolata blacker , then doth a stone . chap. iii. an enquiry into the nature of the particular ingredients , whereof chocolata is made . the cacao nut , as it is the principal and constant ingredient in the composition of chocolata , so it merits an exact enquiry into its nature : for it is by it , that we are mainly to give an estimate of the nature and effects of the whole composition . the cacao nut ( if i may so call it , and not rather the seed of a greater , but disregarded fruit ) is a nut bigger ( or as big ) as a great almond , which grows upon the cacao-tree , and ripens in a great husk , wherein sometimes are found more , sometimes less cacaos ; sometimes twenty , sometimes thirty , nay fourty , and above . the tree is call'd by the indians cacaua quahuitl , it grows ( wilde in the moist grounds of guatimala , and nicaragua ; and by plantation elsewhere ) to an indifferent heighth , equal to our largest plum-trees in bigness ; ●t abounds in foliage , and the leaves are sharp-pointed , compar'd by so●● to the leaves of a chesnuts , and by others to the leaves of an b orange . it be●rs a great flower , of a saffron-colour ; which fading way , there succeeds a large fruit call'd cacauacentli : when it is ripe , it is as big c as a musk-million , as thick , and as weighty ; if we may believe piso , and hernandez : though others think the comparison too large , since ( in iamaica ) they are not observ'd to exceed the bigness of a large pear . but there are several sorts of cacao-trees , ( and their nuts differ more or less in faculty ) so that difference of trees and soils may occasion the discrepancy of authors . within this putaminous husk , or large fruit , ly the cacahuatl , or ( as the d spaniards corruptly call them ) the cacao nuts , being about the bigness of almonds , each of them enveloped in a slimy substance , and film , of a phlegmatique complexion , but of a most relishing tast : which the women love to suck of from the cacao , finding it cool , and in the mouth dissolving into water . under which is another shell ▪ which , when bak'd in the sun , somewhat resembles the colour and substance of a ch●snut-hull . under that hull is lodged that nut , which is the most pretious commodity in the indies , as acosta , and others tell us , and which makes up c●iefly our chocolata . it is of a colour like to the outside of a chesnut , and divided into several scissures ▪ and pieces , as is a e cow's-kidney , but yet joyned together , and in those small divisions ( after d●ying ) there seems to remain some little reliques of a phlegmatique moisture , which often degenerates into an hoa●iness , and at last ends in the final corruption of the nut. it is of such a substance , that being dryed on a digesting fornace , or pan , it will beat to a fine powder : being laid on a stone , or table , the least warmth makes the said powder dissolve into an oyliness , or fattyness instantly ; and it will alone work into a paste , without any intermixture , and keep a year . which paste well made up alone ( or with pocholt ) was , i presume , all the chocolata , that motezuma , and the antient indians had , then dissolving it in atolle . it will beat into a powder , and so may be remix'd with new ingredients of spicery , and sugar , to make the more delicious chocolata . i took a quantity of it ( being exquisitely ground ) and dissolved it in hot water , and having ●et it stand a while by the fire to dissolve , i milled it , ( without the mixture of any thing , but pure cacao paste , and water ) it frothed moderately , but the froth was but of little continuance , and , being suffered to cool , it gathered like fat ( both in colour , and substance ) on the top of the most fat broths , or pottage , to a great thicknesse : but when it came to be cold , however it had before a resemblance rather of fat , then oyl , it gathered into a resemblance of cr●●m ; and indeed it had just such a consistence , but the colour was yellowish . to the bottom there did settle a great quantity , which i took , and tasted of : and i found it to tast just as almond butter exactly , as to its unctuousnesse ; but it had the bitternesse , which is proper to the cacao nut . the water it self beneath the cream was reddish , and after i had purely taken of the cream , it had not only a fatty taft , but taking some out , and bathing my hands in it , i found it extreme fatty . i took that setling , and heated it in fresh water ●ill it began to boil , then i milled it again , and let it stand to cool : it was at first extraordinary fatty ; then , being cold , it yielded its cream , and a red shining cacao-butter ( as i may call it by an allusion to almond●butter ) and a coloured fatty water , as before ; only with this difference , that the cacao butter seemed a little less unctuous , and not so perfectly to dissolve , and glide off the tongue , as before . which put me upon another experiment of decocting , and milling it , till i might extract all the fat out of it , and discover the nature of this setling ; if it might be so terrestrial , and obstructive , as some imagine . i hea●ed the aforesaid setling in fresh water , and milled it well ; and instead of cr●am ( though the water , as it cooled , shewed signes of a great fattinesse ) there did gather on the top a thin covering or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( if i may so call it ) of fat , such as will rise on mutton pottage not too fat . the wat●● proved unctuous to my hand , as before , but the se●ling had no longer the fineness , and mel●ing ta●t of almond butter , but seem'd as if it were not finely powder'd , and besides its bitterishnesse , to have an evident piercing adstringency . from whence i concluded , that it could not be obstructive , but opening , and that when the fatty alimentous parts were distributed for nourishment , the others ( as before they seemed to corroborate the stomach , and promote digestion ; which things moderately bitter and adstringent do : so now they ) open the obstructions , promote concoction in the several guts , and go away in stool : which is the excellency of bread corn , that the bran doth promote the appetite , and digestion , and keeps the body open , and is more healthy then manchet , and it is mix'd by many with successe in diet-drinks to this end . and it is further observable , that in this experiment , whereas the nut it self , and the paste of cacao , and the cream , and the two first setlings ( yea , and the fatty water ) did by their burning give more or lesse visible testimonies of their unctuous nature in their flames , the last greety and incoherent setling would not burn at all in flames . besides , during the reiteration of these experiments , ( which was a fortnight ) there never appeared any augmentation of the cream by standing beyond a few hours ; nor no alteration in it by standing s●●dry dayes : the cream , the water , the setling were still the same , as to consist●nce , colour , and taste : it never , as to any part of it , sowred in a fortnight's keeping , nor gave any sign of corruption , though , during that time , i boiled , and milled the same decoction several ●●mes , and upon any fire to heat it i observed that setling to arise , and incorporate with the rest , the cream dissolving ; as urine , when turned at the fire : and when it cooled , it did resetle before ; as the said urines do in like case . at the same time , as i tryed sundry experiments with paste of the one lump , i observed , that , having boiled the water , and dissolved the cacao paste in it , and milled it but a little : though upon cooling it seemed very fat , yet did it yield but little cream . another part , that was well milled , and yielded as much cream , as covered the pipkin all over to a moderate thicknesse , being skimmed , and milled , and cool'd , and creamed again , i took it , and heated it till it began to boil , and then poured it out of the pipkin instantly , and it came out so clearly , and without any reliques of water in the pipkin , as water doth usually glide off oyled cloth , or other vessels , when cold water is powred on cold grease . and this happened upon three tryals , the water being thoroughly unctuous by being twice or thrice heated , and milled ( for else it succeeds not : ) and to make it more conspicuous , in several parts off the pipkin i could observe some little remainders of the water slide off in round globes , or corpuscles , as it will do off oyled cloth , or greased vessels . from whence i thoug●t i might collect a reason , why the farrynesse of the nut doth not annoy the stomach , being taken in drink , as other fat , or oyl will : for it exactly commixs with the liquor , and swims not on the top : ( in these last experiments it was never milled ; but , having been milled some dayes before , and cooled in the pipkin , it was again heated , and stirred with a spoon a little , and powred out ) and if , as it cools , part of it seem to ascend , yet doth not that all condense into cream : but the water under is fatty ; and as it is hot , and boils , it is still so ( as appears by this experiment : ) which happens not so in other fat broths . thus , the unctuous parts not floating ( as in fat , or butter , dissolved in posset drink to provoke , or help vomits ) on the top , and the bitterish and adstringent parts by a little heat commixing with the other , it must be a very great repletion can make cacao paste offensive to the stomach , and its orifice . i took also cacao paste , and dissolved , and milled it well in cold water ; and it did froth , and upon standing yield a cream in as great a proportion , as that did , which had been dissolved in hot water , and well milled : the cream was yellowish ▪ and inflammable ; the setling was just as to ●●lour , and taste like to the other : saving that , drinking of it before it setled , i found it to be nauseous to the stomach ; so as i , who hitherto never distasted any thing i had a mind to take , could not much relish the drinking of it : not that it was vehemently cold to the stomach , but that the fattinesse of it made the water unpleasant being cold : and it had also a rawishnesse in it , as if the fat required boiling , or further cookery ; which yet i felt not upon eating either the nuts , or paste of cacao . or else it was because that the warmth of the water causeth a more absolute commixture of the parts , which may prevent , as well as of those , which may cause nauseousnesse . or it was because that many things may be taken hot without offence , or distast , which cannot be so , when cold : the heat of the vehicle either correcting the potion , or corroborating the stomach . i took also some simple cacao paste , and put it into cold water , and set it on a gentle fire , stirring it with a spoon till it was dissolved : i suffered it to boil gently , and kept it all day in such a posture , that it did either boil , or continued boiling hot , but rather the latter . after it had stood seven or eight hours ( during which time i observed the decoction to grow extraordinary oily , and to fill the spoon with a water so thick , that i thought it was transformed all into fat , and oil ● it appeared all full of globous corpuscles , 〈◊〉 if it had been oil broken into parcels : but these corpus●les did never embody into greater quantities , nor commix upon agitation ; yet by long digestion i observed they grew to a larger size , yet would not commix : there being besides them a distinct fattinesse to be seen . and in the end , i perceived a new body to discover it self in great quantities ; it was not globous , but flattish ; and for colour , and taste , and nature participated more of mutton fat , then any thing else . it was of colour yellowish , inclining to white : and had little taste of the cacao's bitternesse , or adstringency . these fatty particles i could not get to embody into one , or more bigger bodies : though i could agi●●te them with a spoon ( for i never milled them ) into lesse ; yet did i perceive , that some of them were bigger then others , and at last some of them did enlarge themselves into a size as broad as a groat , and of an indifferent depth , or thicknesse : yet could i not stir these into one or more bigger masses . whereupon i set it to cool : and it was long before these bodies of oil , & fat , did harden , and disappear out of their former shape : so that i thought i had resolved it into oil , since no cream was to be seen . but being called away by business ( which permitted me not the leasure to observe the minute ●●anges in this reiterated experiment ) at my return i found several whiti●● or pale-yellowish bodies like to fat swimming on the top , there being no cream , nor other body to overcast the top , and hinder their free floating : some were bigger , thicker , and broader , and longer then others , and of no determinate figure . they were very solid , and melted on the tongue totally , as fat , or butter would , or clarified deer's-suet , to which they were equal in hardnesse : they had ( as i and others judged ) a farewell or relish of the cacao at last upon the tongue . so that i observed , that no dissolution could totally separate its bitterishnesse , and little piercing adstringency , which is peculiar to the nut : and consequently it could never easily become offensive , or obstructing . the water or decoction was fatty , and had a deep red tincture ▪ and the setling as it was deeply red , so it had little of oilinesse , or resemblance of almond butter ; but it was attended with a roughn●sse , or sensible inequality of parts , the unctuousnesse being almost as much extracted from this setling , as from that , which had been decocted , and milled in several waters ; of which i already spoke . i could see no tokens of what carryed , whilst it was hot , the appearance of oil. having shewed it for several dayes to divers persons , i heated it again , and instantly the said hard fat dissolved , the setling did remix with the rest of the liquor : and i had a decoction of a most deep red , and swimming with larg● fatty ●●d oily particles : i caused it to be well m●●led , and setting it to cool , the said large innatant bodies , resembling a solution of fat in water , and parcels of oil , were dissipated , and broken , or so incorporated with other corpuscles , that i could get very few , and those very very small pieces of solid fat : ( the same happened in compound chocolata ) though i had before had lumps , that might weigh ten or twelve grains . but there did gather on the top a skin , or cuticle ( very thin ) though the body of the water and top did shine with a visible fattishnesse ; and powred out of the pipkin with such an unctuousness● , or oylinesse , being scalding hot , that nothing did , or would stick , or otherwise , then glide off , as from oiled cloth , which it doth not , when powred out cold . of fat , it was not hard , but having an affinity with the usual cream already mentioned in other tryals , but improportionate to the fat dissolved : and the setling seemed to me more unctuous , then b●fore , and like almond butter . i have not time to multiply reflections hereon , but whosoever shall set himself to observe the dissolution of cacao paste , or chocolata cakes , according as they are milled in water , or not milled ; and according as they boil , and not boil therein ; and according as they gradually dissolve on a quick or leasurely fire , will finde a great diversity of parts , occasioned by the different texture of ●●em : and shall finde both colour and taste to vary several times ( especially in the compound chocolata ) to his amazement . i shall conclude with one tryal more ; the powder of cacao paste tastes very fatty , yet ( according to variety of nuts ) it dissolves with the least heat on a stone like butter : but a great heat dries it , and leaves a red , bitterish , and astringent powder behind . i took also of the said paste , and heated it on a fire shovel ; and if at first it melted with a gentle heat , it did evaporate away its oily parts by a more violent one : and ▪ smelling to the smoke arising from it , i had my smell affected with such a nidor , as issues from fat , when broiled on the coals , but milder . these circumstances of its fattinesse , and oilin●sse , and of its nidorous exhalations being burned , do very much recommend the nut for a very nutritive thing . it s dissolving by the least fire , or warmth , argues its facile digestiblenesse . it s easy concretion evidenceth its promptitude to be assimilated into nourishment of the parts . and its nidorous vapour , being burnt , proves , that it carries with it ( if any can doubt this , that sees the oil , or fat , swimming in the pure cacao decoction ) at least a potential fat , and is a greater ●logy of its symbolizing with our bodies , then it is for bread , that by chymical digestion it should in time be converted into blood , as some tell us . ☞ but to improve this argument from reason a little , it is the general ●●gue of the indians , and indian writers , wh●●h is no lesse , then the testimony of uncontroverted experience , that this cacao nut is very nourishing : that it is multi nutrimenti , is the assertion of f hernandez : that it doth fatten ( being made into chocolatl by the sole mixture of ●ocholt grains ) by frequent using it , is likewise avowed by him . chocolatl paratum ex granis pocholt , & cacauatl , aequâ mensurâ , quod magnopere traditur corpora impinguare , si frequentiùs eâ uti contingat . and dr. iuanes de barrios g tells us , that , when they used in guatemala the plain and simple chocolata , they found it very nourishing . es comoda pues ella sola suple el almuerso , y algunas otras comidas , por que con ella no es menester , pan , ni corne , ni bebida , y en un momento se hace y sacona , lo que no ai en las otras . in fine io. de laet , h tells us , that it is very nourishing ( praeclarè nutrit ) and that the indians by the help of cacao nuts alone do subsist all day , notwithstanding their great labour , and heat . which is a truth well known to our seamen , and land soldiers , in , and about iamaica , that by the help of the cacao nut made into paste with sugar , and dissolved in water , neither having , nor wanting other food , they usually sustain themselves , sometimes for a long season ; and i have been assured , that the indian women do so feed on it , ( eating it often ) that they scarce eat any solid meat ●wice in a w●ek ; yet feel no deca● of heat , or strength . all which is purely to be ascribed to the nourishing nature of ●●e cacao nut , and not to the other ingredients ; since few of them are found endowed with any such quality , nor is there intermixture with the cacao nut of any long date , the latter of which hath been already evidenced in the beginning of my discourse : and i shall demonstrate the former , before i conclude . but however that the cacao nut , being grinded into a paste , and dissolved in hot water , be so nourishing , yet have the indians and spaniards an ill opinion of the nut , to eat it whole , and not in the usual manner of drink . which , as it is told me by that ingenious gentleman , major fairfax ( who lived long in iamaica , and is newly returned ) so it is confirmed by the authority of mr. gage . i the cacao , if it be not stirred , grinded , and compounded to make the chocolatta ; but be eaten , as it is in the fruit , ( as many criolian and indian women eat it ) it doth notably obstruct , and cause stoppings , and make them look of a broken , pale , and earthy colour , as do those , that eat earthen ware , as pots , or pieces of lime walls ; which is much used amongst the spanish women , thinking , that pale and earthy colour , though with obstructions , and stoppings , well becomes them . which observation , if it be true , makes no more to the prejudice of the cacao nut , then it pr●judiceth wheat , oat-meal , or the like , ●hat being eaten unmasticated , or raw , they do create , or encrease the green-sicknesse in maids . i say , if it be true : for here in england the honourable robert boyle can bear me witnesse , that several honourable relations of his have eaten them for several years , and continue to do so ; in the beauty of whose faces the world , as much as it is interested therein , can observe no diminution : yea , they professe it as a real and experienced truth , that , if at any time their heads ake , to eat twelve of those nuts is a present remedy . another lady protested to me , that by the eating of those nuts , she feels hypochondriacal vapours ( with which she is much troubled ) to be instantly allayed , or appeased . so far are they from participating of the usual malignancy of nuts , to beget shortness of breath , obstructions , and head-aches . to the former experiencies i must add , that they are observed to be more laxative , then binding ; and that neither mr. boyle , nor my self ( who did eat two pound once , and great quantities since on purpose ) ever felt any heavyness , or annoyance in the stomach , head , or elsewhere . nor have i ( as neither do the others ) been curious to choose particular times to eat them in : but at all hours , and seasons , morning , and evening , before , and after meals : all day , as opportunity , or other circumstances invited us thereto . it may be then , that the obstructions , and discolou●ed complexion of the women in the indies eith●r is fabulous ; or to be attributed to their eating the cacao nuts , whilst yet they are not sufficiently cured from their excrementitious moysture , and humidity : or that they eat another sort of cacao nuts , then should be used in chocolata : ( for it is a great caution in the making chocolata , not only , that the nuts be well cured , and dryed ; the older being accounted the best , if not corrupted , and decayed : and that they come from caracas , and soconusco , not guaiachil , or the like ; but that they be of the sort call'd k clalcacahuatl especially : whereas they they make confects of l quauhpatlathli , ( or patlaxt , which m is not so usefull as the ordinary , yet is used by the meaner sort . ) or , if it must be understood of the right cacao ( which they often eat n roasted , and made into confects , and their women fall into hysterical and hypochon●riacal distempers , very difficult to cure ; which is avowed by piso , as an usual accident there , as well as by mr. gage ) i can only say , that it hath not yet happened so here : and that however , we ought to remember that old arabian maxim 〈◊〉 physick , qui non bene masticat , odit animam suam ; he , that doth not chew his food well , is an enemy to his own life . of so great consequence is either that salival ferment in the mouth , which inchoates digestion , being impressed into the thing chewed ; or the due comminution , and subtiliation o● food : it being well known , that the eating of any meat in great morsels , and without chewing , occasioneth the inconveniencies attributed to the eating of the nuts not reduced into a paste by grinding . for it is observable , that the paste of the nut will melt in the mouth perfectly , if it be well made : but the nut will not ( that i could observe ) though well chewed . and therefore it may seem a just caution , to weak stomachs especially , that their chocolata be made with a paste exquisitely made , the nut being first powder'd , then searced finely , and then carefully grinded . and then there will be little or no inconvenience from the eating the cacao nut so order'd , either in pastills , or cakes ; provided the other ingredients be not noxious . i shall now speak of the qualities and temperament of the cacao nut. and indeed in taste it is none of the most pleasant , to those that are not used to it : which made clusius say , that , besides its adstringent taste , it had so unplea●ant an one , that it was no wonder , if such ▪ as first taste the primitive chocolata , care ●ot for it . of the same judgment was benzonus : for which he was laughed at by the nicaraguans , and necessity made him to comply at last with them in drinking it in that original and simple manner . it hath a taste somewhat bitterish , and sub-adstringent : and hath such a mixture of parts , that authors no way agree in charactering its temper . if we look on the nut , and taste it without any other preparation , then that of taking off the hull , one would accord with o roblez ; el cacao es frio y seco de su templansa , y per esto tienen partes astringentes , con que opila : the cacao nut is by temperament cold , and dry , and therefore hath adstringent parts , with which it begetteth obstructions . truly that it is dry , seems then sensible : and that it is cold , the universal experience of all , who say it p allays thirst incredibly , and cools the liver , or any other inflamed part , seems seems a pregnant argument . and of the same judgment with roblez ( who lived in peru ) was dr. iuanes de cardenas , who lived in the indies , and practised physick there , and made use of his ●wn judgment , as well as the narrations of the natives . he thinks the cacao nut to be cold and dry in a degree betwixt the first and second . because he is an eminent writer , and his assertions may perhaps suit best with the generality of physicians inured to old hypotheses , i shall set down the substance of his judgment as to the cacao nut . q he acknowledges a triple distinction of parts in the cacao nut from whence ariseth a ternary of distinct qualities in it , the first is a cold , dry , earthy , and melancholy substance : which if it prevail above the rest , it produceth obstructions , and melancholy , and destroies concoction . the second is airy , hot , and proportionate to butter , which by agitation , and milling , riseth in froth . this he reputes to be hot and moist , and of a lenifying nature , which , whilest it prevails , begets a quite contrary effect : for it nouri●heth much , and multiplies blood , and vital spirits , and enables men to labour . this butyrous substance doth principally manifest it self in the cacao nut , when it is indifferent aged , and hath been kept a good while : and is not a little helped in the shewing it self , by being roasted , or heated in a frying-pan , or kettle , before the oil be drawn , or it be made into a paste . the third sort of parts , which he professes to be in it , is hot , and dry , which carries w●●h it a faint resemblance of adustion , which makes it to seem bitterish to the taste . by reason of the latter parts , it becomes penetrating , and conveys the other alimentous parts into the body ; it provokes sweat , and monethly evacuations in women , it opens all obstructions ; and these guide the more oily and butyrous parts into the entrails , whereby the body is preserved soluble . this multiplicity of parts produceth several effects in the persons using chocolate , according as they are healthy , or sick , of a weak or strong stomach , troubled with obstructions , or free from them . and much depends on the individual constitution of persons : as also on the artificial mixture of it into chocolata , whereby the several parts are actuated , and vigorated , the butyrous parts set at liberty from the confinement they were under by reason of the styptick ▪ particles ; ; which more appear to sense in the nut , then in the mass : for the former dissolve not on the tongue , ( no , not when chewed ) as doth the latter : nor hath the latter that sensible astringency , and bitterness ( joyned with its unctuousness , and aptitude to melt on the tongue ) as the former . hernandez ( who was principal physician in the kingdom of mexico , and was appointed by philip ii. to wri●e medicinal and natural observations in that province ) is at a great loss , what ●ature and temperament to ascribe to this nut. it is ( saith he r ) made up of different particles , but very well embodyed , and mix'd ; it is something bitter , something sweet ; and either of a temperate nature , or a little inclined to coldness , and moisture . others are of opinion , that this cacao nut is of a temperament inclining to heat , and moisture : and they consider not the nut , as it is entire , or under no greater comminution , then what the teeth infer : but as it is grinded into a paste , and ( sometimes as ) mixed with water , and agitated into forth by a molinet . and their reasons are ; first ▪ because in the grinding it into paste , and in the working it up , and in the dissolving it in water again , still there are no visible signes of any thing ( if it be well done , and the nuts good ) but of parts moderately hot , moist , and unctuous , or butyrous ; there being little or no terrestrial , and heavy , gross setling whilest it is hot , and when it is milled , it goes all almost into froth , and fat , which proceeds ( say they ) from an airy , hot , and moist substance , mixing with winde . another argument they bring for their opinion from the quick nourishment it gives ; for , ( say they , and galen too ) that it could not so soon turn into nourishment of the blood , and spirits , if it had not a proportionateness , and agreement of temper therewith : for there would be some time requisite to assimilate and change what ha●● a discrepancy with our nature , before it ●ould nourish us . but that , which is analogous to our nature , is balsamically hot , and moist : not cold , and dry ; which are enemies to it . gul. piso resolves the controversies of the cacao nut thus , veniamus ad cacacii q●alitates intrinsecas . has equidem ex effectibus , caeterísque indiciis , constat esse temperatas . substantia ei ex crassioribus simul & tenuioribus partibus composita est prorsus : ùt in infinitis aliis vegetabilibus observatum est , diversas omnino sub eadem forma substantias co●tineri . noster autem cacacius in pulverem redigitur primùm , & solâ mox , etsi frequenti tusione pinsitur , & in massam cogitur . quod cùm fiat sine ullius rei admistione , ratio arguit aliquid esse in eo tenacis & bituminosi instar humoris , aeris elemento respondens . multa insuper eidem , quibuscum suâpte naturâ miscetur , insunt ignea , quae necessariò incidere atque reserare debent corporis meatus , non verò praecludere , ùt quidam voluerunt : nisi hoc intelligant de crudo , vel tosto , vel saccharo condito , quo mulieres in indiis nimium vesci amant , unde uteri , alvi , & hypochondriorum obstructiones incurrunt difficillimas . verùm totum hoc oritur , quòd interior ejus substantia dentium incisione non exactè comminuitur , nec perfectè commiscetur : requiritur enim artificiosa molae ve●satilis contritio ; atque tunc demùm siquid noxiae supersit frigiditatis , aliorum calidorum commixtione temperatur , communicatâ singulis partibus ●âc intimae jus substantiae qualitate . it is manifest by is effects , and other signes , that , as to its intrinseck qualities , it is of a temperate nature . it s substance is made up of some subtle , and some gross parts ; which sort of mixture is observable in many other products of nature . this cacao nut is first beaten to powder , then without any accessional [ but a gentle heat on a stone , or iron-table , or mortar ] it is worked laboriously into a mass , or paste . which , since it is done without the addition of any other thing , it is an evident argument , that there is in it a tenacious and bituminous substance . the mixture of other spicery corrects its coldness ; they penetrate , and open obstructions : so that chocolata is no way obstructing ; however others , by eating raw , or rosted nuts , or crushed into confects with sugar , ( much used by the indian women ) may fall into tedious obstructions of the spleen , liver , hypochondria , and womb. for ☜ these inconveniencies happen , because it is not exactly grinded , and that the performances of the teeth and stomach equal not those of the rowler in grinding , and the molinet in actuating the particles of the cacao nut . i shall reserve the particular decision of the controversie , untill i have made a greater inquiry into the nature of the nut , and its several parts , and ●ave examined my self its several effects in iamaica , at more leisure : but suggest these present considerations . if the nut be a right good nut of nicaragua ( or caracas ) and soconusco ( the nuts of the islands are not reputed equal to those of the main : s and in iamaica they have but newly learned to cure them ; in which there is much art ) and so old , as to be at its perfection , not decay'd and of a darkish red , approaching to black , after it is pilled , it is to taste , adstringent , and a little bitterish ; but not very unpleasant to any , who shall have eaten but a few of them . it will be dry , and hard to taste , and not dissolve into an unctuous liquour in the mouth : though you may easily perceive in a rich nut to the taste an extraordinary butyrousness , though congeled , and fixed by some particular principle else . i never could observe any coldness in the nut at all neither , on the tongue , nor stomach ; nor yet any sense of heat . if the sensible bitterishness must argue heat , the effects of which are not further perceived , because the unctuous parts implicate and dull the vigour of the other ; and if that the sensible unctuousness in the most dry nuts , maugre the stypticity , evinces their moisture : yet will any , who eats the nut , be apt to excuse them , who by their taste judge the nut ( ungrinded ) to be cold and dry in the first and second degre● i have already shewed , that our experience in england in my self , and others , ( some being well , some being sickly ) doth not evidence the nut eaten of it self ( not reduced to a paste on a stone ) to be obstructing , or clogging to the stomach : and , whereas it is attributed to the grinding , and so commixing the parts , that it keeps the body soluble , our experience shews , that even the n●t eaten produceth the like effect ; though by the taste one would conjecture otherwise . whereas it is said by some , that the nut in paste dissolved into water is of an hot as well as moist nature : i must propose some doubts thereto , since it is so good in fevers , and to quench thirst at other times ; and is so repugnant to cold stomachs ( a general calamity in hot climates ) that the indians and english generally are inforced to mix with it either long pepper , or iamaica-pepper , or red pepper call'd chilli , to make it supportable to their stomachs : and men ▪ otherwise of unquestionable strength , and health , have assured me upon their own experience , that this is true . besides , it is a known experiment both in spain , and the indies , that the butyrous and oily part of the cacao nut , being taken of , and preserved from the chocolata , or otherwise drawn , is a very great remedy against inflammations , and particularly the erisipelas , or fire of st. anthony . and in such applications it is sensibly cooling . in fine , let men debate eternally the temperament of the nut , they , who have ascribed to it qualities altogether repugnant to nutriment , have never controverted its incredible nutritive faculty . it is in this that all agree . it is multi alimenti , yields plentious nourishment , saith hernandez ; who holds it to be temperate , or inclining to cold and moisture . io. de laet saith of it , refrigerat , & nutrit insigniter , it cools , and nourishes exceedingly . dr. iuanes de cardenas professeth , that it yields buen sustento al cuerpo , good nourishment for the body . and roblez , who concurs in opinion with the other , that it is cold , and dry , declares it to be summamente alimentoso , exceeding nutritive . and benzonus gives it this character , ea caelia sapore aliquantùm amaro satiat , & refrigerat corpus minimè tamen , inebriat : that muddy drink , or ale , with its bitterish taste satisfies , and cools the body , not intoxicating any way the head. and it is observable , that albeit the eating of cullises , and iellies continually , doth so debilitate the stomach , that , thorough much use of the former , men become incapable to digest any grosser meats : of the verity of which practical observation there is a notable instance in sanctorius s of a student at padua , who , that he might have more time to study , and not be diverted therefrom by any re●●rd of diet , fed himself only with iellies , and c●llises , wherewith he expected not only to be strengthened much , but also freed from the concerns of exercise , and other circumstances necessary for digesting stronger meats ; but he afterwards falling sick , and being inured to no other food , then that appertained to sick-folks , whilst he was well ; being sick could receive no no sustenance at all , and so dyed lamentably for want of food , more then by the violence of his disease : i say , it is not so with the plain chocolata , made of the pure cacao-paste , and perhaps a little sugar , and pepper ; for the indians , english , and spaniards , who have lived on it several days , sometimes weeks , without any other food , do without any inconvenience resume a more gross diet , and again intermit it at their pleasure . i have been thus particular in the inquiry into the nature of the cacao nut , because it is the principal ingredient in chocolata : and it is this nut alone in the composition , ( if there be neither maiz , nor bean-meal in it , which may be admitted in small quantities as wholesome , for ought i can imagine ; or pistachia nuts , or almonds ; of the healthfulness of either of which , but especially the latter , i doubt as to this composition ) which yieldeth the nourishment , and fatness , which is expected from the drink , and often found . all the other are but spicery ( under which i comprise amber-griese , and musk ) and serve at best but as a vehicle to distribute the cacao nut into the body , and to make it agreable to the stomach , which otherwise might , and often is troubled with the coldness of the cacao , o● what other quality it may have ( perhaps too much relaxing the stomach , or offending its o●ifice by its unctuousness ) wher●by to offend the stomach . and since the indians did first correct it with chiles , or red pepper , i shall speak of that in the first place . chiles , chilli , or red pepper , in the language of t cusco is called vchu ; in that of mexico , chili : or u chilli by the old inhabitants of hispaniola ( call'd haitini by x hernandez ) it is called x agies ( by roblez , los agies ) which some y otherwise write ( according to the variety of spelling ) axi . by monardes it is called la pimienta de las indias . in portugal it is call'd pimienta de brasil . in brasil , and by piso , quiya . in fine , amongst almost an infinity of names , the most usual now are long red pepper , and american or brasile pepper , for no other reason , but that the portughese brought it first thence . z it was much esteemed of in old time amongst the indians , which they carryed into places , where it grew not , as a merchandise of consequence . a and in all the inhabited places of america it is so frequently used , that there is scarce any meat dressed without it . b this spice the spaniards love , and will have it in all their meat , that they in●end to have picant : for a greater hough-goo is not in the world ; garlick is faint and cool to it . it is so violently strong , as , when one breaks but the skin , it sends out such a vapour into the lungs , as he falls to coughing , which lasts of quarter of an hour after the fruit is removed : but , as long as it is grabling , they never give over . to describe its several kinds , and particularize its virtues , it would be requisite to transcribe the treatise of father gregory the capuchine upon this subject , which is to be found in clu●ius's curae posteriores , piso , and hernandez . however that the spice merits great commendation , and that c monardes , and d oviedo prefer it before the east●indy pepper : and that many e repute it to be cold , and well-tempered : ( as do f others that of the east-indies ) yet it is by such , as regard the testimony of what they taste , and feel , ( before traditional discourses ) to be g hot in the highest degree . q●artum haec caloris gradum attingunt , & tertium ferè siccitatis , so saith h hernandez . and monardes avows them to be hot , and dry , as it were in the fourth degree . es caliente , y seca , ca●i en quarto grado . there is this caution given of them , i that they inflame the blood , and distemper the eyes , the liver , and the reins ; that they create fevers , pleurisies , and peripneumonies ; that they are no way agreeable for young folks , but for the old flegmatique ▪ which assertion is to be understood of its unproportionate mixture with other compositions . another ingredient in the composition of chocolata is that most delicate of spices , call'd usually in england pepper of iamaica , by the spaniards pepper of xamaica ( so herrera , and other spaniards call iamaica ) pepper of tabasco or tamasco , and pepper of chiapa : and by the indians x●coxochitl . it is commonly called in iamaica , pimienta : which name they took from the spaniards , some of which i find to call it gravos de pimienta , and pimienta alone : though otherwise that name is of a greater comprehension . this spice hath a most delicate smell , and such , as resembles an orange stuck with cloves : being swallowed whole , it amends the breath , is excellent against wind , and helps digestion , and yields no sign of an immoderate heat ; but being broken , within the outward husk , or shell , there are two ( sometimes three ) little grains , which make the impression of a pretty violent heat , yet short of the other peppers : i have not met with any writer , who utters a word to their prejudice ; a few of them , burnt with wine , recommend it for fragrancy , and taste , beyond any spice . k es la pimienta de suave olor , caliente , y s●ca en grado tercero , cordial , desoppilativa , provoca mezes , y es remedio à los dolores flatuoses , corrobora el estomago , y ajuda ●a digestion de la comida . the pimienta ( of iamaica ) is sweet-sented , hot and dry in the third degree , opening obstructions , cordial , provoking the terms , and it is good against wind , and flatulent pains , it strengthens the stomach , and digestion , being eaten . roblez gives it this character , e hecho experientia desta semilla , o granos de pimienta , y hallo en ella el calor , y sequedad iguales , y ser a proposito para confortar el estomago , interiormente bebida , o exteriormente aplicada . sufre cossimiento medianamente , y trituracion mediocre , y subtil , como les de mas aromaticos , y le tengo por substituto de los clavos de especies : mata las lombrices con la parte amarga , y detiene los vomitos . that is : i have tryed these seeds , or grains of pepper , and i found therein an equal siccity , and heat : and they serve for to strengthen the stomach , being taken inwardly , or applyed outwardly . it will endure an indifferent boiling , or punning to powder , as do other spices , [ which loose their virtue by much beating , or boiling ] and i allow it for a substitute for cloves . it kills the worms with its bitterishness , and stays vomiting . io. de laet , in his description of america , speaks thus of the province of tabasco , and its pepper . vnam habet [ ea provincia ] inprimis arborem domesticam , quantivis pretii , quam vocant xocox●chitl , quae est arbor grandis ▪ foliis mali aurantiae , fragrantissimis , floribus rubris instar granati , odore item aurantiorum , grato juxtà , ac suavi ; fructibus rotundis , ac racematim pendulis , qui initio quidem sunt virides , posteà ruffi , & ad extremum nigri ; acris saporis , & mordacis ; boníque odoris ; calidi & sicci in tertio gradu , ità ut piperi substitui , & pro carpo-balsomo in officinis possit obtrudi . hispani vulgò vocant piper tabascense . corroborat cor , & ventriculum ; amicum est utero ; discutit flatus ; aperit obstructa ; movet urinam , & menses ; succurrit colicis & nephriticis doloribus ; consumit humores crassos & viscosos ; fugat rigores febrium . i. e. the province of ☞ tabasco hath one tree particular to it [ when ximenes writ this , whom laet follows ; it was not known to grow in jamaica , as it doth plentifully ] which is call'd xocoxochitl , i. e. a tree not to be valued . it is of a very large growth , hath leaves like an orange●tree , being of a most fragrant scent ; it bears a red flower like to that of a pomegranate , of a sweet and pleasing smell , and which also resembles th●t of oranges . the fruit is round , and grows in clusters , like as grapes do , [ so does the amomum of dioscorides ] at first it is green , then red , and at last blackish : it is of an excellent smell , and biting taste . it is bot and dry in the third degree , so as that it may be substituted instead of ordinary pepper [ but it is s● farr short of it in heat , and bitingness of taste , that in pies there is no comparison betwixt them ; as i have seen , ] and in the shops it may pass [ but without any resemblance ] for carpo-balsamus . the spaniards usually call it pepper of tabasco . it strengthens the heart , and stomach ; it comforts the womb , it dispells winde ; it opens obstructions ; it provokes urine , and the terms in women ; it helps colique and nephritique pains ; it consumes tough and viscid h●mours ; and d●ives away the cold fits of agues . i cannot pass by this delicate spice , without putting the world in mind , that perhaps upon observation there where it grows , and a little constraining of dioscorides , it may be found to be the very amomum of the antients ; so famed in all their rich unguents for luxury , and so commended for medicinal uses , instead of which we are fain to put into mithridate , and treacle , either cubebs , or cloves , but , i hope , henceforward amomum and carp●-balsamus shall find no other substitute then this pepper of iamaica . i am not the only person who propose this : hernandez ( lib. 2 cap. 5. ) professeth , it may be used instead o● the carpo-balsamus ; and who shall enquire into the amomum clusii , will find how others , as well as i , have ●omented this opinion : of which i shall treat more hereafter , when i have observed its growth . in the mean while it seems to be that garyophyllon of pliny ( lib. 2. cap. 7. ) where , having spoken of pepper , he adds , et etiamnum in india piperis granis simile , quod vocatur garyophyllon , grandius fragiliúsque . tradunt in indico loco id gigni . advehitur odoris gratiâ . there is at this day in the indies something , that resembles pepper , men call it garyophyllon ; it is bigger and more brittle then pepper . they report it to grow in a place of the indies : and it is brought hither ( sc. to roms ) out of a regard to the delicacy of its scent . there is not any thing in pli●y , which carries repugnancy to our pepper : its excellent smell , the name of garyophyllon , being the greek , not indian name , and signifying cloves , or clove-gillow-flowers , with the smell whereof , ( and taste ●f the former , but mildly ) it hath a resemblance . it is more big , it is more brittle , and consequently , till a clearer discovery be made , we are to presume , that we have retrived after so many hundreds of years one of the most select odours , that antiqui●y ever boasted of . i shall not add any more , untill i have prepared a second edition in iamaica . instead of this , there is usually put in common black-pepper , or white-pepper : concerning the virtues of which i shall not enlarge . they are well known already , and better known then approved of either by the l natives of those countries where they grow ; or our learned physicians in europe . the next ingredient of chocolata is tlilxochi●l ( or , as some write it , tlixochil ) or , as the spaniards call it , banillas olorosas , or vaynillas . the former is the indian name recorded in m hernandez ; the latter is the usual spanish term acknowledged by n piso , and others . the plant is compared to aromatical arach , it runs up trees , as doth ivy , it hath a broad leaf , in length eleven inches , and in breadth six , it resembl●s a plantain-leaf , but is more fatty , it is of a deep green ; it bears a blackish flower : it produceth a cod , that is about six inches long , slender , and of a blackish colour ( yet are some , that i have seen , reddish , and yet good ) their smell is admirable , they , which have parallel'd it with amber-grise , musk , or o balsame , failed in their character ; for it ha●h a peculiar mildness , and delicacy in it , not to be found in those other . if , in the iamaica pepper we have found out what the antients lost , it is herein that we have out-done them : it being a discovery , which , i doubt not , but a little art will improve beyound all the odours yet known . p it is reputed hot in the third degree , and adds to chocolata not only a curious scent , but taste : and moderately provokes urine , and the monethly evacuations in women ; it strengthens the brain , comforts the wombe , dissipates winde , concocts and attenuates gross and crude humours . i cannot do this excellent product of iamaica the injustice , not to tender the double character given of it in spanish , by two spaniards , that lived in the indies , and whose learning equalled their curiosity . doctor fernandez ( lib. 1. sect. 1. titulo de los bainillos ) speaks thus of them : son calientes , y secas en tercero grado , cordiales , provocatuias de meses , y de orina , aceleran el parto , el echar las pares , cuessen y adelgason lo crudo , y fortelesan el corason , y cerebro , y ses facultades . they are hot and dry in the third degree , cordial , provoke the terms , and urine , and speedy labour , and freeing for the after-birth , they concoct and attenuate crudities , they strengthen the heart , and brain , and its faculties . doctor iuanes de cardenas gives us this account of them . las bainillas compiten con el ambar . son de complexion caliente , y seca en primero grado , con que don al chocolate mui suave olor : y se accentajan à las de mas en ser mui cordiales amigas del corason : engendron espiritos de fuerte , y robusta mixtion , ajudan al cossimiento del estomago , y con su calor cuessen los humores gruessos , y crudos ; y lo que es mas que todo , con las partes sutiles , y calientes , consumen lo●terrestre del chocolate ; con que le dexan mas puro , y sin los dannos do lo melancholico . t●at is : the vaynillas equal amber-grise . they are of quality hot and dry in the first degree , wherewith they give to the chocolata an exceeding sweet smell : and excell other simples , being extraordinary strengthning for the heart : they beget strong spirits , and of a firm mixture ; they promote digestion in the stomach , and by their heat concoct crude and gross humours , and , which is above all , with their subtle and hot parts they consume the earthy parts of the chocolata , and so leave it more pure , and free from the inconveniencies , with which it might otherwaies threaten the melancholy . to conclude this discourse of the vaynillas : it is so called by the spaniard , because that it resembles the vagnuila or sheath of a little sword ; it much resembles the cod of a french-bean in length , and shape ; it hath in it a small seed , which fills it from one end to the other , of a blackish colour , but very subtle parts , and scent . it is observable , that one spanish writer makes it to be hot in the third degree , and dry ; another only hot and dry in the first degree . such contradictions are usual in writers of the indies , and not much to be regarded further , then as the resueries of men too methodical , or as the intrigues of nature to be paralleled in opium , camphire , vitriol , quick-silver , &c ▪ concerning which our most inquisitive and philosophical physicians are so perplexed , and differing in opinions , that we may pardon the discrepancy of the writers alledged here . whosoever shall try these vaynillas by the strength and penetratingness of their smell , and perhaps by the vig●ur of their effects , performing what nothing of european , or east-indy growth , of a less degree in heat , and dryness , then the third , doth ; will rank them with those of that sort ; but here who shall consult his senses , and observe the mild delicacy in these american products , and particularly in the vaynillas , which is inconsistent with so much heat , and dryness ; and shall consider , that his tongue feels nothing parallel to what happens upon the tasting of a grain of chili , or red pepper ( which yet is placed as hot in the third degree ) he will by many degrees separate and distinguish the former from the latter . and indeed these powerful effects are not the consequents of an excess of heat , but of parts moderately hot , and well subtiliated , and digested , in a country , whose climate yields ☞ an uninterrupted temperature of heat to its production : from whence we may once for all observe , that it is impossible to provide any succedanea , or substitutes for these kind of commodities : for to use cloves insteed of vainillas is a ridiculous mockage , and hurtful to several complexions , in chocolota . chacanguarica , pumagua , or achiotl ( as it is called by q hernandez ) or achiote , as it is usually called ( mr. gage calls it achiotte ) is called by oviedo , and clusius , bixa ; by the natives of brasile r vrucu , and roucou in the description of the antilles . it is a tree , that grows every where in the west-indies , without cultivation ; ●t is regarded as well for its use in painting , as physick . it is a tree of indifferent bigness , leaved somewhat like to an elm , after it hath flowred ( which flower hath scarce any sensible smell ) the fruit grows out in a ●od containing thirty or fourty grains , which grains , before they ripen to an hardness , yield a juice of a pure vermilion colour : out of these grains , either ripe , or unripe , is the s achiote so ▪ called made by a way , i shall not repeat ; yet in the making of it up there is so great a difference , that it is very considerable , some having been purged to death , & others thrown into fluxes by mixing achiote , not rightly prepared ; in chocolata ; which hath occasioned some to speak against its being put into it . but it is not by that character , that the good achiote must be censured : for , if rightly prepared , it is with very good effect mixed with meats in the indies to meliorate their taste , and colour , and smell too . t and in chocolata it produceth all these effects , if put in a due proportion : and makes it to be drunk more safely , and with lesse nauseousness : it makes it also to purify the blood more , and to strengthen the inward parts . in brasile the achiote grains , being duely prepared into cakes , are mix'd in an indefinite proportion with a dish of carima ( which is made of tipioca ) and give● against poysons , or other distempers , promiscuously . u it strengthens the stomach , stoppeth fluxes , and , being mixed with agreeable juleps , allayeth feverish heats . x it is cold , and dry , and moderately adstringent . having given you this testimony of it from the learned piso , who interested not himself much in the digesting plants into several degrees according to their first qualities ; but consulted unquestionable experience : i shall now represent the several characters of this achiote , given by spaniards , and such as lived in the indies . the spanish doctor ferdinandez , doth thus character it in his first book , sect. 1. chap. 14. estre se hase de la semilla de un arbol cosida . yes frio en tercero grado , con alguna adstriccion , mitiga la sed : y , masclado con el agua , templa● lis calenturas ardientes , y cura la dysenteria de humores colericos . da gusto , y sabor , y ol●r al chocolate , y le hase mas fresc● : de mas de que ajuda a la digestion , y no solo se mescla para color al chocolate , si no por que engorda , y annide sustento , con la parte pingue , y butirosa , que es la , que en el praevalese : y siendo assi , ●iene partes calientes , como io son todas bas butirosas . it is made of the grains of a tree boiled . it is cold in the third degree , with some adstriction . it allaies the thirst , and being mixed with water , it tempers the burning-fever , and cures the bloody-flux , occasioned by choler . it gives a taste , relish , and colour to chocolata , and makes it more brisk ; besides it helps digestion : nor is it mixed with the chocolata for the colour's sake alone , but also because it fattens , and encreaseth its nourishment with its fat and butyrous parts , which prevail in it : and , being so , it must needs have hot parts in it , as have all butyrous things . with this agrees the mexican herbal , lib. 3. cap. 41. frigida est ordine tertio , & nonnullam siccitatem adstrictionémque participat ▪ — extinguit , epotum , aut admotum , ●ebrientium incendia , opitulatur dysenteriis , repellítque tumores praeter naturam ; quo fit , ut epithematis , frigorificis potionibus , seu iulapiis , & quibusvis infrigidantibus cibariis , & medicamentis , misceri perquàm commodè possit . additur semen chocoatl , ( id est , chocolatae ) refrigerii gratiâ , commendandíque saporis , atque coloris . dentium doloris è calida causa ort●s lenit , corroborat , evocat urinam , sitim extinguit , accroci apud aliquas gentes gerit vicem . — adstringit nonnihil , ideóque , cum resina permixtum , medetur scabiei , atque ulceribus , ventriculum corroborat , fluxum alvi cohibet , lac auget permixtum crustis cacaoatl ( id est , chocolatae ) quem reddit innoxium quâcunque mensurâ bibatur : ejus siquidem gratiâ , facilè , ac citra satietatis incommodum solet concoqui . ( i. e ) it is cold in the third degree , and participates of some adstriction , as well as dryness . — being given inwardly , or outwardly applied , it allays feverish distempers , it helpeth the bloody-flux , and repels praeternatural tumours ; for this cause it may be mixed in cooling epithemes , julips , or any food , or physick , used to cool . it is mixed with chocolata to cool , as well as to embitter the taste , and colour . it helpeth the tooth-ach ari●ing from hot causes , it strengthens the gums , it provokes urine , it quencheth thirst , and with some nat●ons it is y used instead of saffron . — it is somewhat adstringent , and therefore , being mix'd with rosin , it cureth the itch , and ulcers ; it strengthens the stomach , stoppeth the fluxes of the belly ; it encreaseth milk , being mix'd in chocolata ; which last drink it renders very innocent , in how great quantity soever it be drunk : for , by reason of the mixture of achiote , it is drunk down easily , and without any ensuing nauseousness of the stomach . io. de laet in his description of the we●t-indies reports thus of achiote . e semine [ sc. achiotl ] fit tinctura coccinea , quâ pictores utuntur : eadem & in medicina usurpatur , quum frigida sit qualitate . cum aqua aliqua ejusdem qualitatis hausta , aut foris applicata , mitigat aestus febriles , sistitque dysenteriam , denique utiliter adjungitur omnibus potionibus refriger antibus , unde etiam vulgò miscetur potioni cacao ad refrigerandum , & bonum saporem & colorem illi conciliandum . i. e. out of the seeds [ of achiotl ] there is made a scarlet tincture , which is used by painters . the same is also used in physick , being of a cold quality . being mix'd with a proper vehicle , and either given inwardly , or outwardly applyed , it allayeth feverish heats , and stops the bloody-flux . in fine , it is with much benefit put into cooling drinks ; wherefore it is commonly mix'd with the cacao , to make it cooling , as well as to amend the taste , and colour . i have shewed the opinion of such , as favour its being cold even in the third degree : and therein only it is matter of opinion ; for as to the effects attributed thereto , i believe them to be of unquestionable authority , being grounded upon the practise of the indies , and not established upon conjectures . i now come to propose the opinion of that diligent observer roblez , who irreconcileably differs from the rest , as it follows . el achiote , o viza , assi le llaman los indios , le echan en las comidas por a cafran . es caliente , y enemigo de nuestro calor natural , offende las partes espirituales , estraga el higado , es ventoso sobre manera , por que su calor , y humedad pasa de segundo o tercero grado , lleuanta vapores gruessos , hincha los hypochondrios : dicen que es a proposito para las passiones de ornia . todo el chocolate , que viene de la nueva-espanna , y guatimala , viene cargado desta terrible veza , baptisado con nombre de achiote ; y deven los medicos a conseiar , no se use deste con ex●●sso , por que tengo por sin duda , que el achiote es una lima● s●rda , que produce en nos otros malas passiones : y assi desseara tener autoridad para moderarlo , tengole por caliente en grado tercero , y humedo en segundo ; y por sas propriedades enemigo de nuestra naturalesa . that is , achiote , or viza , as it is call'd by the indians , is used by the natives in their meats instead of saffron . it is hot , and destructive to our natural heat , it offends the spiritual parts , it weakens the liver , it is beyond measure flatulent , and windy ; because its heat and moisture equals the second or third degree : it raiseth gross vapours , it causes a tension in the hypochondria : they say , it is good to ease distempers occasioned by stoppage of urine . all the chocolata , which comes from new-spain , and guatemala , is fill'd with this horrible ingredient , christen'd with the name of achiote , and physicians ought to give advice , lest people use it in too great a quantity , and with excess : because i am undoubtedly assured that it insensibly consumesus [ the spanish is not to be expressed , i think , more fittingly ] and creates in us many other evil distempers : and therefore it ought to be restrained by publick authority . i suppose it to be hot in the third degree , and moist in the second : for its quality it is repugnant to our nature . it may seem very strange how so learned and experienced and observing a man could run into an opinion so contrary to the other of hernandez , both living in the indies , one in mexico , and the former in peru. if we regard our z taste , it seems to plead for hernandez : as being evidently cooling ( though not to that degree ) and somewhat adstringent ; though the coldness and adstringency sensibly differ , according as it is better or worse prepared : i mean according to the taste , for i have yet experimented it no further . if we consider its effects , such as have been related , they seem still to oppose roblez , and assert its cooling , and adstringency . as to that enmity , which he maketh it to have with humane nature , the universal experience of the indies ( and of all , that use it ; supposing the achiote rightly prepared ) particularly of brasile , new-spain , and guatimala , in the latter of which chocolata hath been immemorially drunk , and in both which places it is the general and famed drink , doth refute him . nor is every thing , that is hot and moist in the third degree , to be exterminated physick , as destructive to our nature . what apology then can we make for so learned and observing a man ? the principal excuse ▪ that i can make for him , is , first , that he relies upon a the authority of the indians , who it seems are as peremptory , that achiote is hot , as that chilli , or red pepper is cold . secondly he observed , what is also granted by ferdinandez ; that , however it had cooling and adstringent effects , it had also an operation of a quite different nature : for per las partes aereas , y delgadas tambien desopila , y provoca mezes , y sudor : by its aereal parts it did open obstructions , provoke the courses in women , and cause sweat. and this operation of achiote is likewise attested by two eye winesses , dr. iuanes de cardenas , and dr. iuanes de barrios ; and is confirmed to us by b mr. gage in these ensuing words . achiotte hath a piercing attenuating quality , as appeareth by the common practise of the physicians in the indies , experienced daily in the effects of it , who do give it to their patients , to cut and attenuate gross humours , which do cause shortness of breath , and stopping of vrine : and so it is used for any kind of oppilations , and is given for the stoppings , which are in the breast , or in the region of the belly , or any other part of the body . now , since these effects are usually performed by medicines of such a nature , as roblez attributes to achiote , it is to be presumed , that he said it upon that ground : but that operatio sequitur esse , that from a parity of effects one may argue a resemblance of causes , is an errour in physick . and in that he saith , it hath an opposition , and qualities destructive to the nature of man ; i suppose , it being granted to have a diuretique and diaphoretique nature , and that it introduceth a fusion ( and precipitation oftentimes ) in the blood , it may then be granted to bear an hostility against our bodies , if taken by way of food , what is really physick ; and what hippocrates saith of purges , that those in health bear them with difficulty : and that they do depredate , and dissolve , by way of colliquation , the flesh , this is true of diuretique medicines , if frequently or continually used by persons in perfect health : which as it is the course prescribed to make people lean , so it is in consistent with the intended use of chocolata , which is to make fat : and this might as well merit his censure there , as the causeless taking of smallage , and diuretique pottages with us in spring . he prohibits it con excesso only , in too great a quantity . this i thought to be fit to say by way of apology for roblez ; i shall only add , that others do repute this achiote to be of a very temperate quality : and as no sense evinceth it to be hot ; so it s de-obstructing faculty , and its diureticalness ( it being highly commended not only to dissipate gross humours , but even the stone in the kidnies ) argue it not to be very cold . however , it is certain , that the achiote ought to be good , and that it ought to be put 〈◊〉 but in a due quantity : for as the reasons specified render the excess of it suspicious ▪ so do those other , that it meliorates the colour , taste , and smel of the chocolata ; and makes it agreeable to the stomach ; these manifest the necessity of commixing some : and for this we have the precedents of new-spain , and guatemala , and mexico , and the general consent of such writers , as have recommended it to the practice of other parts of the world ; as you may see in piso's discourse of chocolata . mecaxochitl , mesacuchil , mechasuchil , or mecacuce ( as paulus zacchias calls it in c piso ) in spanish it is called manojitos de olor . d it is a peculiar sort of pepper , growing only in mexico , and as it resembles long pepper , so it may be e reckoned as a sort of it . it is hot in the fourth degree , and dry in the third ; if we may credit f hernandez , and piso : but as other ingredients have been strangely represented by indian physicians , as to their qualities , so it is with mecasuchil , for franciscus ferdinandez ; ( lib. 2. sect. 1. c. 13. ) gives us an opinion of his very discrepant from the former , viz. that it is only hot in the first degree , and dry in the second : his words are these ; esta especie aromatica es caliente en primero , seca en segundo , cordial , util à las ventosedades , y contra veneno , echa la criatura muerta , es provocatuia de meses , y orina , que facilita los malos partos , y abre opilaciones , y es corroborante con moderada adstriccion ; que repara el calor nativo , y alimenta el influente con nuevos espiritos , que cria , fo●talece el higado , y es excellente en la templansa y mixtion aromatica . this sort of spicery is hot in the first degree , and dry in the second ; it is cordial , good against wind , and poyson ; it brings away the dead child , it provokes urine , and the terms ; it gives quick delivery in time of an hard labour ; it opens obstructions , and strengthens the body with a moderate adstriction ; it repairs the decay of natural heat , and fills the nourishment passing to each part with new spirits , it strengthens the liver , and is of an excellent temper , and aromatique mixture . it is put into chocolata not only because it gives it a good taste , but because it opens obstructions , cures colds , and distempers arising from cold causes ; it attenuates gross humours , it strengthens the stomach , and it amends the breath , and resisteth poysons , and in this character g hernandez and e piso differ little . xochinacaztlis , xochinacatlis , orichelas or orejuelas , ( in spanish ) and ( in latine ) flos auriculae , h is a tree with long and narrow leaves , which bears somewhat large flowers , the leaves whereof are inwardly purple-colour'd , and on the out-side of a grass-green , they somewhat resemble ears , whence they have their spanish name : they are of a very pleasant smell . these flowers are of great esteem in the indies ; there 〈◊〉 not any thing more valued , nor more common in their shops . they contribute much to the grace of the chocolata , and improve it as far beyond its self , as it transcends other drinks : they give it a rich scent , and taste , and render it very wholesome . it is said by i hernandez to be hot in almost the fourth degree , and dry in almost the third : and k piso ascribes to it the same temperament , that he doth to mecasuchil . it is allowed l to strengthen the stomach , being troubled with cold , and winde ; to revive the spirits , and beget good blood , and nourishment , and to provoke the monethly evacuations in women . but its temperament is more controverted : for the doctors iuanes de barrios , and cardenas repute it hot in the first degree , and dry in the second . i have already declared the opinion of hernandez : and franciscus ferdinandez ( lib. 1. ) saith , it is hot in the third degree , and dry in the second . his words are , ninguna es de m●jor valor , para esta bebida per aromatica cordial , y de excellente olor : caliente en tercero grado , seca en segundo , y que conforta el corason , cordial en la vitalidad , cria muchos y robustos espiritos , y mas de los vitales , de fuerte y robusta mixtion , indissolubiles : y es de excellente sabor . there is no ingredient in chocolata of greater esteem , by reason of its aromatical and cordial virtue , and excellent smell : it is hot in the third , and dry in the second degree , it strengthens the heart , and vital parts , it begets many and strong spirits , and especially the vital spirits of a strong mixture , not dissipable : and it hath an excellent taste . besides the fore-mentioned ingredients , several others are put in partly by the indians , as maiz ; partly by others , as anise-seeds , fennel-seeds , cinnamom , saffron , sugar , cloves , mace , orange and limon-pill ( in a small quantity ) musk , amber-grise , orange-flower water , almonds , filberts , pistaches , the chymical oyls of cinnamom , cloves , nutmeg ; and some leave out achiote , and colour it with santals : in fine every chocolata-maker puts in what he doth think good , and cordial , or pleasant , and leaves out what he dislikes insomuch that some reduce chocolata almost to ginger-bread ; and put in little of the true cacao-nut . nor is this variety practised only in england ; in spain , and portugal there is the like ; and an infinite discrepancy in the ingredients , and proportions m of them . i have not time , nor can it justly be expected , that i should give a particular account of the mentioned ingredients , whose natu●e may be found in every herbal almost : i shall only give these general observations . chap. iv. general observations about chocolata . 1. that there ought to be a great care in the due choice of the cacao nut . for there is a great variety in the nature and taste of the nut : some are bitterer then others , some are more oily and nourishing then others . thus those of carraca , or nicarag●a , were chosen by me to prepare chocolata for his majesty , notwithstanding that i had seen some from iamaica , that were very well tasted , and well cured : for there is not only a great difference in the growth and nature of the nuts , but in the curing of them ; for , if they be not gathered in due tim● , and well sweated after they are gathered , and that upon mats , not boards , ( for the mat dries up the sweat better , then the board , in which whilst they soak , the phl●gm is re-imbibed by the nut , and the oily parts not sufficiently exalted , and digested ) the nuts are not so good , as that we should expect any great excellency from the chocolata . 2. that there ought to be a great care in the picking , garbling , and preparing the nuts . it is not sufficient to choose nuts of a good age , and growth ; old , but not decayed : ( for these are most oily ) nor to cast away such , as are apparently corrupt : but having dryed them ( in the doing of which beware you burn them not ; and so imbitter the composition ) you must hull them , and then pick them , casting away all the corrupt and musty ones ; for , if you be not carefull herein , the chocolata will in a little time shew it self to be musty , and decay . i had once some new chocolata shew'd me , to ask my judgment of : and it seemed to me then very pleasant , and good : within a fortnight after , i tasted it , and it was good for nothing ; so musty was it , after it had fermented a while by standing : yet was it carefully kept . it is usual amongst the chocolata-makers to repute those nuts good , and sound , which are blackish , and not musty , nor rotten ; though upon breaking of the nut , in the several divisions and parts there be in intercurrent hoariness , which will vanish at their drying : but i suppose all rational persons will grant , that that is a tendency to corruption ; and any curious observer will distinguish those nuts from such , as have not the least inchoated decay , by the taste . after all this garbling , they must be well beaten to powder , and finely searced , or else the paste will not be good : for , although , in the grinding , they will mix , and melt into a paste , yet will not that paste consist of so small particles , as when searced ; and consequently not dissolve so well in the potion , as otherwise it would . and after it is thus prepar'd , in the grinding of it there is much of art : i have already excepted against the making it in a mortar , or on an iron table ; the only way to moderate the heat , and to preserve it from discolouring ( by the iron ) or running too fast into oyl , whereby it is made unfit to keep ; and also some parts unequally dissolve , the spices mix not well , and it is precipitated in the making up before a sufficient incorporation , and never ferments right , nor attains its perfect gust . i have already spoken concerning the way of grinding the spice , rather then beating it ; and that with this caution , that the spice be not only ground singly over , but after ground all together , that so the several parts of each individual spice , and ingredient , may operate upon the subtiliating of the other ; besides that hereby each is more exquisitely commix'd , then by any other ☞ way can be contrived . i am of the mind , that if there be any setling at all in the chocolata drink , it is either because the nut is faulty , being ill-cured , unripe , new , or corrupt , and so its parts dissolve not into oyl , but sever themselves , or because it is not well beaten , and searced ; or made up too hot , and so hastily dispatched , because some parts dissolve too much , and others not at all : or the spice is not well beaten , and incorporated ; or by reason of some other mixture : for otherwise there will not be any setling at all , nor any such terrestrious parts , as some besides the spaniards do imagine . this is to be understood of the chocolata being hot : for , if it cool , the pores of the water , being fill'd with a sufficient proportion of particles , do precipitate the superfluous corpuscles to the bottom ; as do other liquors in the like case . to prevent this discovery , the chocolata-sellers mix an egg or two or more with it , that so the indissolved , or indissoluble parts may be supported by the grossness of the liquor . the like is to be seen , when it is prepared with milk ; which is a thicker body , and will bear more and greater parts innatant , then water : yet it is to be noted , that let the best chocolata be prepared milled , and unmilled , and there will be a great discrepancy in the innatant , supernatant , and subsiding bodies ; but in good chocolata either there is no setling , or remanence in the bottom of the cup you drink ▪ if it be indifferent warm : or , if there be , it is not black , but reddish and oily , and easie to be digested ; the contrary whereof is observable in the ordinary , and spanish , as well as dutch chocolata . since that the effect of chocolata , as to its nourishing nature depends upon the cac●o nut , that chocolata is best , which hath most of it ; all things else corresponding : and that worst , as to the aforesaid end , which hath least of it ; though that be endeavour'd to be supplyed by almonds , filberts , pistaches ; these last being more stopping , less nourishing , and not dissolving in the potion proportionably to the other . since that the paste must be well work'd , and that the excellency of chocolata lies in that the parts of the cacao nut , being not too much dissolved into an oyl ; for then it will not keep ; nor endure the heat of your hand , or pocket ( especialy in cakes ) but melt ; and yet must be kept in a box , or place temperately hot , and free from moisture , or it will mould and decay : or , in that the said parts of the cacao nut be sufficiently dissolved ; for otherwise it will keep neither ( in england , without care ) nor ferment well , and attain its delicate taste ; but yield a setling : upon this score it seems to follow , that neither the putting in of orange-flower water , nor chymical oyls , into it at its making up , is good : for it hi●ders it in the working , to be sufficiently dissolved ; or causeth it to dissolve too much : nor could i ever yet see any with those oyls in it , which would keep or carry well ( especially in cakes : ) but thsi is not the only reason against them . for , if to stomachs , that are in perfect health , and of a good temper , it be prejudicial to give things too hot , and qualified rather to dissipate then continue the vigour of the spirits ; and such are chymical oyls , and hot spices in a great proportion : hence we see cold distempers , as the green-sickness , rheums , and the like , to follow upon eating much thereof ; as n piso observes , that eating of nutmeg , ( however much cryed up in distempers of the memory , and brain ) did introduce , to his knowledge , forgetfulness , dulness , and sleepiness . the like is observed concerning nutmeg and mace in iava by o bontius : and rondeletius somewhere tells us , that in france the maids drink ginger to make them look pale : of which i once saw the experiment in a fair patient ; which recovered upon the discontinuing of what she drunk by advise as physick for a cold stomach . but however that i do not approve of the putting in of those east-indy spices , p yet i do not any way disallow those more delicate and mild ones of america ; the defect of which i suppose is not to be supplyed by any cloves , or nutmegs , or black pepper . and although i do commend our american spice , yet would i not have excess of them , but a mediocrity ; especially of the chiles , or long red pepper , which though it be very good for weak stomachs ( which reign generally in the indies , and hot countries ) yet hath it its faults , which i have already recited : yet of this , that , which is brought as the richest from spain , ( and imitated by several here ) is too full ; so as that i have felt the impression of it on the glandules of my throat for a long time after i drank of that chocolata . since that it is necessary , that chocolata be kept at least a moneth , before that it can arrive to its proper taste ; which is a known thing , and i have tryed it : even that , which so pleased him above any , that spain , or flanders produced , had not the advantage of time ; for a moneth after it had a much more excellent taste then before . it being so , we are to have regard to the particular age of the chocolata to be used : for , if it be new , it is not come to its maturity , nor attained that perfection , which is to be gain'd by long digestion , and fermentation ; it being observed , that several compounds ( which is demonstrable in treacle , and mithridate ) derive a particular virtue from a long fermentation , distinct from what the several ingredients new put together have : nor is this benefit of fermentation to be denyed to chocolata ( though it can never be bad , if the ingredients be good , and well ordered , and proportioned ) since we experience it in the good chocolata , that it becomes better ; and in the bad , that ( however it may taste well at first ; if the nuts be corrupt , and musty ) it will suddainly grow worse , notwithstandi●g the goodness of the spicery . since age and fermentation is so requisite to the improving chocolata ( which is avowed by the most accurate spanish physicians : i leave it to the consideration of men , if the making it up into cakes , or loz●nges can be so good ; since neither in so small a proportion , ●or so small a bulk do compounds ferment well , nor spicy preparations keep their vigour . besides , if age and time be requisite to ☜ the imbettering chocolata , how can any chymical oyls , or spirits , be properly put in , since they admit not so long keeping , but evaporate , and so destroy the composition intended to be enriched by them : they carry away with them the choice parts of the cacao nut , and deal by chocolata , as hot drinks and spicery by our bodies , which create apoplexies , palsies , and other cold distempers . chap. v. concerning the effects of chocolata . to speak concerning the particular effects of chocolata may to some seem a superfluous attempt ; and to others impossible . the former may ground their opinion upon what i have said of the cacao nut ; whose virtues and nature being known , we cannot ignore the nature and effects of the plain simple chocolata , such as alone hath the commendation of the indian experience for so many years : it being made up of nothing but cacao● nuts , and pocholt-grain , ( which i suppose to be all one with the paniso ) incorporated ; and in time of use it was dissolved in atolle , ( which what it is i have already told ) and that this was refrigerating , and very alimentous , is undubitable . the achiote , orichelas , and vaynillas , were not ordinary ingredients , but occasionally put in , as people's stomachs could not bear the common composition , it being too cold , or too uuctuous ( and so relaxing of the stomach ) to persons of a more then ordinary debility of stomach : and according as they were more or less weak , so they put in more mild spices , as the vaynillas , &c. or the more violent , as agies , or guiny-pepper . so that i , having enlarged about the cacao nut , may justly seem to decline a repetition of what i have said . and as to more elaborate compositions , abstracting from the already declared nature of the cacao nut , and other ingredients already related , or hinted , it seems impossible to declare any great thing concerning those , since their compositions are unknown , and not established by experience , but the conjectures of physicians , or ignorant chocolata-makers , who amass whatsoever is good , or pleasant alone , to be an ingredient of this composition . which course is very vain and foolish , since even cordials , and hot things ( however effectual in swoonings , or distempers of cold and winde ) are prejudicial to the healthy , and suit not with all tempers ; no , nor with any as constant diet , but as medicinal , which is not the real use of chocolata . the indians , as they used it for food , and daily aliment , prepared it as aforesaid : upon occasion of fevers , and other hot distempers , they made some little alteration of it , suitable to the disease , and so in fluxes , and dysenteries , and imbecillity of stomach . they put no sugar in it , nor otherwise enriched it in that they ordinarily fed on ; and to this day they have not encreased their way beyond q cacao , achiote , maiz , and a few chiles , and a little anise-seed . nor did the spaniards vary much from it , long after they had subdued the indies . about fifty years ago it began to be used in spain , being sent over for a delicacy , after that they had enriched it , and given it a pleasant gusto at mexico . and what is now used , if we look back to ledesma's way , is of a newer date : and if it scarce have the credit of being experienced ; much less have the several variations created since : which have no other original , then that a spanish physician , finding his patient used , or enclined to chocolata , prescribed it to him , or her , with a mixture of these spices , or other pleasing and rich ingredients ( and r sometimes not so ) to be taken to open obstructions , and to strengthen nature after a general course of physick premised : and this kind of chocolata , being successful in the recovery of one grandee , or eminent lady , must be propagated to be the entertainment of others , whose indispositions require it not , or whose healthy condition cannot bear it . for it is not to be thought , that alfarache's hospital of fools is confined to england ; no , in other countries there are those , that can be as impertinent in their chocolatas , or other cordials , as our ladies , and gentlewomen are , who obtrude upon their visitants their diet-drinks , herb-pottage , cordials , and confections , with the solemn recommendation of , it was used by such and such : — it contains nothing , but what is opening . — it is good for the spleen , or liver . — it dissipates wind , — and a thousand such like prefatory discourses to endear to them their mischief . this is that , which hath occasioned that variety of chocolata in spain , so that scarce two houses in sevil make it alike . and amongst us the case is worse , since that the mixture of chymical oyls ( unknown in spain ) and several magisteries , give scope to chocolata makers , and ladies to practise with , as well as physicians . i thought it my duty to give publick notice hereof , to the end , that physicians might be acquainted with the reason of the great discrepancy in chocolata , and that others might be cautioned against the following the particular preparations of several persons , who have sophisticated and spoiled one of the most excellent and healthful drinks in the world . it is true , that physicians say how in alteratives there is little mistake in the dose , or quantity : but this respects their being given once , or but for a short time : and so these alterative chocolatas , being taken but once , or seldom● ( if the ingredients be not violent , nor the body cacochymical , nor the season sickly ) may little endammage the sound ; and as little amend the sick . but , if they be often taken , or constantly by way of repaste , it is not to be doubted , but how little error soever be , or can be committed in the dose , a great one will be committed in the continuance , if either the body be healthful , or possessed with a distemper not requiring ( or repugning to ) the additional ingredients in the chocolata . and several have experienced the consequences of this variety of mixtures , and uncertainty of compounding chocolata : for , having taken chocolata of antwerp for hypochondriacal distempers , by using that of spain they have instantly been molested with the haemorrhoids . some , having been troubled with a virulent gonorrhaea , and debilitated therewith , have took the plain cacao-paste with nutmeg , mace , cinnamom , and sugar , to advantage : but being ind●fferently well , or recovered quite in a manner , by drinking of chocolata made up with ordinary pepper , they have relapsed , or incurred a sharpness of urine , to their great astonishment ; they not understanding the difference of chocolatas . others , having been troubled with the apprehen●●ons of a consumption , and cough ; and having found benefit by the simple chocolata used by some ordinary sellers of it , meeting with a parcel of what hath been esteemed choice , and rich , by using it they have been damnified in their health ; their rheums have been encreased by a colliquation of the humours , the palat of their mouths being brought down by the keenness of the chiles acting on the glandules about the throat ; and , their blood being heated , their sleep hath forsaken them . in fine , the issue hath been altogether contrary to their expepectation , and perhaps the physician , who recommended it , hath , as well as his patient , entertained an ill opinion of the drink , whereas they ought to blame the chocolata-makers , who inform them not of the variety of ingredients , wherewith it is made . i come now to represent the virtues of the compound chocolata , the praises whereof i would not have understood of the several rich compositions not authenticated by experience , nor known to the world , nor those authors i shall alledge : all they say is to be restrained to the plain chocolata of the indies made up of the nut , maiz , achiote , a few anise-seeds , and chiles ; proportioned , and suited to the temper of the patient , and given in pure water , or atolle , ( and the last more or less plain , as occasion served ) or of what was not discrepant from it by the mixture of any vehement spices of the east-indies , but the more milde ones of america , as the iamaica-pepper , sugar , and the like ; which being within no unsuitable latitude , i shall report their characters promiscuously . franciscus ferdinandez , principal physician in the kingdom of mexico under philip ii. and appointed by him to enquire diligently , and to write of the natural and medicinal rarities of that province , saith of chocolata thus : es una de las mas saludables , y praeciosas bebidas , de quantas hasta oi estan descubiertas : por que en toda esta bebida no se echa cosa , que sea mala , ni haga danna à la salud , si no todas cordiales , y de mucho provecho , para vi eios ninnos , mugeres praennadas , y gente ociosa : y conviene no beber tras della , ni comer otia cosa , ni hacer exercicio despues de tomarle , si no estar se un rato quieto . y deve tomarse bien caliente . it is one of the most wholesome and pretious drinks , that have been discovered to this day : because in the whole drink there is not one ingredient put in , which is either hurtful in it self , or by commixtion ; but all are cordial , and very beneficial to our bodies , whether we be old , or young , great with child , or others accustomed to a sedentary life . and we ought not to drink , or eat after the taking chocolata ; no nor to use any exercise after it : but to rest for a while after it without stirring . it must be taken very hot . ☞ this is the character of chocolata with achiote in it : for ferdinandez did much approve thereof . dr. iuanes de barrios speaks thus of it : digo pues , que es menester considerar , que al principio , que esta bebida se comenso à usar , se hacia de menos simples , y cosas , que el dia de oi se hase , por que los indios antigos de guatimala no echevan en el lo que oi echa : y no es de maravillar , por que en las comidas , y bebidas , y cosas compuestas , el uso , y el tíempo las perficiona , hasta dar les●el punto de la salud , y de gusto , que oi tiene , y esto passa en los usos , hasta darle su punto . i say , it is to be considered , that in the beginning , when this drink of chocolata came first to be used , it was made of fewer ingredients , and things , then it is now made with ; because the antient indians of guatimala did not put into it them , as now : nor is that to be marvelled ar , because in meats , and drinks , and all manner of compositions it is natural for them not to be begun , and perfected at once : but this must be done by time , and practise ; till they arrive at that height of healthfulness , and taste , which they get at length . and , having said this , he adds , es comoda pues ellae sola suple el almuerso , y algunas otras comidas , por que con ella no es menester , pan , ni carne , nì bebida : y en une mo mento se hase y sacona , lo que no ai en las otras . it is good alone to make up a breakfast , and supply other victuals ; because , having it , you need no further meat , bread , or drink : and in a moment it is prepared , which is not to be found in others . dr. iuanes de cardenas concludes thus of it : y digo , que usado con esta advertencia , 〈◊〉 de mucho provecho para la salud , y es bastante a alar gar los dias de la vida ; por que fuera de que da buen sustento al cuerpo , ajuda agestar el mal humor , vacuandole por sudor hieses , y urina : y digo otra ves , que entierra ninguna es mas necessario , que en las indias , por que como es humida , y dexativa , andan los cuerpos , y estomagos llenos de flemas , y de superflua humidad , laqual con el calor del chocolate , se cuesse , y convierte en sangre , lo que no hace el vino : por que realmente antes se azeda , con la flema , y suele ahitar mas . and i say , whosoever takes it with the cautions , and directions aforesaid , takes it with much benefit , and it conduceth much to the lengthening of his life ; and the reason is , because it yields good nourishment to the body , it helps to digest ill humours , voiding the excrements by sweat , and urine : and i say , it is no wh●●e more necessary then in the indies , which are moist , and apt to create lassitudes , their bodies there being , together with their stomachs , full of phlegm , and superfluous moisture , which are concocted by the heat of chocolata into good blood ; which is an effect beyond what wine produces : for the wine doth degenerate into sowreness , and corrupts together with the phlegm , and multiplies indigestion . iohn de laet , secretary of the west-indycompany in holland , a man accurate both in the geography , and natural history of the indies , represents it thus : chocolate variis modis componitur pro cujusque appetitu : de qua hoc tantùm dicemus , quòd praeclarè nutriat ; verùm si nimis crebrò & immoderatè sumatur , debilitat , & alia praetereà adfert detrimenta . — 〈◊〉 . immodicus usus potionis è cacao confectae plurimarum infirmitatum & morborum causa est : quia generat obstructiones , corrumpit colorem , & inducit cacochymiam , & similes pravos effectus . chocolata is made 〈◊〉 ways according to each man's fan●●● : concerning which we shall only say , that it nourisheth very well ; but , if it be used too much , and too often , it begets weaknesses , and other indispositions : s● ▪ the immoderate use of it multiplies obstructions , spoils the complexion , and introduces a cacochymy . iaques amproux in his natural and moral history of the a●●lles of america , ( ch . 16. ) gives us this intelligence . le cacao croist en la province de guatimala , neuue-espagn , qui est aussi un fruit tres-reuommé en toute l ' amerique , pour estre le principal ingredient , qui entre en la composition de la chicolate , ou chocolate , d'ont on fait un bruvage souveraín pour fortifier la poitrine , dissiper toutes les humeurs malignes , qui s'y attachent , chasser la gravelle , y tenir le corps frais , y dispos , pour veu qu'on le prene moderément . the cacao grows in the province of guatimala , in new-spain : it is the most renowned fruit in all america ; because it is the principal ingredient in chicolate , or chocolate , which makes a sovereign beverage to strengthen the stomach , to dispel all evil humours , that trouble it , to evacuate the gravel , and to preserve the body fresh , and in full vigour , if it be taken moderately . gul piso quotes this passage as from the experience of ant. de ledesma , whom he recommends as a credible author . motus enim iis , inquit ant. de ledesma , quae in indiis fieri solent , cùm illùc pervenissem , aegrotantiúmque domos , aeris calore ferventes percurrerem , aliquando haustum aquae petere solitus , vitales restinguendi faces gratiâ , indorum suasu chocolatam fiti compescendae convenientiorem bibi : saepiúsque id factum , leniebatur exinde ardens bibendi desiderium : etiamsi jejunus assumpsissem , stomachi tamen vires refectas sentiebam . ex 〈◊〉 potionis continuato usu alii mecum impinguefacti sunt : cùm tamen pleraque ingredientia , excepto cacacio , & maizio , quòd calida & sicca sint ordine tertio , ad extenuationem corporis facere videantur : sed constat ratio ; butyrosae enim cacacii partes pingue reddunt corpus ; calidae verò , quae confectionem ingrediuntur , pro vehiculo inserviunt , quo pinguis ista substantia ad jecur deferatur , & indè in caeteras dimanet partes , tandémque ad carneas demùm derivetur . having a curiosity to see to acquaint my self with the rarities of the indies , at my being there , i went to visit my patients , and being thirsty i used to call for some water to allay my drought , and defect of vital spirits ; at length by the perswasion of the indians i drank chocolata , as being more convenient to allay my thirst . and indeed upon the drinking of it i found my vehement desire of drink to leave me ; and , if i took chocolata in a morning , i found it did much corroborate and refresh my stomach . by the continual use of which drink i , and several with me , became fat ; notwithstanding that most of the ingredients , except cacae-nuts , and maiz , be hot and dry in the third degree , and seem more ready to extenuate . but the reason is , for that the unctuous and butyrous parts of the cacao-nut do fatten , whileft the other ingredients serve only as vehicles , to distribute those other to the liver , and thence to the whole body . this is the account he gives from anton. de ledesma : his own observation in holland is as follows ; quia maxima pars ingredientium , excepto cacacio , in europam non deferuntur , substitui possunt ; & solent vel vulgaria illa indiae orientalis aromata , vel alia aliqua semina , aut flores cuique regioni & individuo convenientia . quod & fieri saepe in belgio vidi , & ipse cum voluptate viriúmque refectione hìc confectam gustavi . porrò non memini aliquem nostratium ( modò non ferverent illi hypochondria ) ex quotidiano usu ejus potûs malè habuisse . multis contrà morbosis medelam attulisse scio , praesertim hecticis , catarrhosis , asthmaticis , quibúsque praecordia languerent . because that few of the ingredients of chocolata , except the cacao-nut , are brought into europe , instead of them there are , and may be substituted either those common spices of the east-indies , or other seeds , and flowers , suitable to the particular condition of each climate , or individual person . which i have often seen done in holland , and i my self have drunk of it with great pleasure , and refreshment of my spirits . nor do i remember , that any of our country-men [ hollanders ] was ill , or any thing the worse for drinking of chocolata daily ; except he were troubled with hypochondriacal heats . but , on the other side , i am sure on my own knowledge , that it hath done much good to many , who were very sickly , and in particular to several troubled with hectick fevers , catarrhs , asthmas , and imbecillity of the stomach , and vitals . besides the virtues attributed to chocolata , i desire it may be observed what he tells is done in the compounding of it ; how , instead of the true american ingredients , other succedaneous ones are employed , viz. the spicery of the east-indies ; betwixt which and those of the west-indies there is no resemblance , the one being milde , the other violent : and against the use of which ( even to the total exterminating them ) f this author hath writ a discourse , however that he allow them to be substituted for the other in chocolata . nor is the commutation of spice for spice onely ; even other flowers and seeds are substituted , and this he knows to be done in holland : which being so , how can any recommend the use of chocolata , not knowing what ingredients are in it , or knowing that comes from holland , where other ingredients then ought to be , are put in for certain ; though it be as uncertain what they are , or whereunto effectual ? it is further to be observed out of his words , that such ingredients are to be put in , as suit with each particular climate , and individual constitution . wherefore the same chocolata is not to be promiscuously used by men in health , of all tempers , nor by men sick of different diseases . which was observed before by me in this discourse , and i take notice of it here again occasionally , to shew , that i am not singular in my opinion . mr. gage chap. 16 , tells us of it : that where it is so much used , the most , if not all of them , as well in the indies , as in spain , italy , flanders , ( which is a cold country ) finde , that it agreeth well with them . true it is , that it is used more in the indies , then in the european parts , because there their stomachs are more apt to faint then here , and a cup of chocolatte well confectioned comforts and strengthens the stomach . for my self , i must say , i used it twelve years constantly , drinking one cup in the morning , another yet before diner , between nine and ten of the clock ; another within an hour or two after diner , and another between four and five in the afternoon , and when i was purposed to ●it up late to study , i would take another cup about seven or eight at night , which would keep me waking till midnight . and , if by chance i did neglect any of these accustomed hours , i presently found my stomach fainty . and with this custome i lived twelve years in those parts healthy , without any obstructions , or oppilations , not knowing what either ague or fever was . yet i will not dare to regulate by mine own the bodies of others , nor take upon m● the skill of a physician , to appoint , and define , at what time , and by what persons it may be used . only i say , i have known some , that have been the worse for it , either for drinking it with too much sugar , which hath relaxed their stomachs , or for drinking it too often : for certainly , if it be drunk beyond measure , not only this chocolatte , but all other drinks , how innocent soever , may be hurtfull . and if some have found it oppilative , it hath come by the too too much use of it . as when one drinks overmuch wine , instead of comforting and warming himself , he breeds and nourishes cold diseases ; because nature cannot overcome it , nor turn so great a quantity into good nourishment . so he , that drinks much chocolatte , which hath fat parts , cannot make distribution of so great a quantity to all the parts : and that part , which remains in the slender veins of the liver , must needs cause oppilations , ☞ and obstructions . but lastly , to conclude with this indian drink , i will add what i have heard physicians of the indies say of it , and have seen it by experience in others ( though never could i find it in my self ) that those , that use this chocolatte much , grow fat , and corpulent by it : which indeed may seem hard to believe ; for considering , that all the ingredients , except the cacao , do rather extenuate , then make fat , because they are hot in the third degree . and we have already said , that the qualities , which do predominate in the cacao , are cold , and dry , which are very unfit to add any substance to the body . nevertheless it may be answered , that the many unctuous parts , which have been proved to be in the cacao , are those , which pinguefie , and make fat : and the hotter ingredients of this composition serve for a guide , or vehicle , to pass to the liver , and the other parts , untill they come to the fleshy parts : and there finding a like substance , which is hot , and moist , as is the unctuous part , converting it self into the same substance , it doth augment , and pinguefie . hereupon he recommends it to the english , to be drunk by them : i shall not instance many testimonies out of him , to evince its general use among the indians ; besides what he sayes in the chapter already cited , in his relations of guatemala , and chiapa , the mentioneth their use of it , more then once : and speaking of chiapa ( chap. 15. ) he hath this following story , which because it evidenceth the opinion the spanish dames have of chocolatte , i shall insert at large . the women of chiapa pretend much weakness and squeamishness of stomach , which they say is so great , that they are not able to continue in the church , whilst a mass is briefly hudled over , much less whilst a solemn high-mass is sung , and a sermon preached , unless they drink a cup of hot chocolatte , and eat a bit of sweat-meats to strengthen their stomachs . for this purpose it was much used by them to make their maids bring them to church in the middle of mass , or sermon , a cup of chocolatte , which could not be done to all , or most of them , without a great confusion , and interrupting both of mass , and sermon . the bishop , perceiving this abuse , and having given fair warning for the omitting of it , but all without an amendment , thought fit to fix in writing ☞ an excommunication upon the church-doors against all such , as should presume at the time of service to eat or drink within the church . this excommunication was taken ill by all , but especially the gentle-women much to heart , who protested , if they might not eat or drink in the church , they could not continue in it to hear what otherwise they were bound unto . the chief of them knowing what great friendship there was between the bishop , and the prior , and my self , came to the prior , and me , desiring us to use all means we could with the bishop for revoking that his excommunication so heavily laid upon them , and threatening their souls with damning judgment for the violation of it . the good prior and my self laboured all we could , alledging the custome of the country , the weakness of the sex , whom it most concern'd , and also the weakness of their stomachs , the contempt , that might ensue from them unto his person , and many inconveniencies , which might follow , to the breeding of an uproa● in the church , and in the city , whereof we had some probable conjecture from what already we had heard from some . but none of these would move the bishop ; to which he answered , that he preferred the honour of god , and of his house , before his own life . the women , seeing him so hard to be intreated , began to stomach him the more , and to sleight him with scornful and reproachful words ; others sleighted his excommunication , drinking in iniquity in the church , as the fish doth water , which caused one day such an uproar in the cathedral , that many swords were drawn against the priests , and prebends , who attempted to take away from the maids the cups of chocolatte , which they brought to their mistresses : who at last seeing , that neither fair nor foul means would prevail with the bishop , resolved to forsake the cathedral , where the bishop's own , and the prebends eyes must needs be watching over them ; and so from that time most of the city betook themselves to the cloyster-churches , where by the nuns and friers they were not troubled , nor resisted , though fairly counselled to obey the command of the bishop ; whose name now they could not brook , and to whose prebends they denyed now all such relief and stipend for masses , which formerly they had used to bestow upon them , conferring them all upon the friers , who grew rich by the poor impoverish'd cathedral . this lasted not long , but the bishop began to stomach the friers , and set up another excommunication , binding all the city to resort unto their own cathedral church , which the women would not obey , but kept their houses for a whole moneth : in which time the bishop fell dangerously sick , and desired to retire himself to the cloister of the dominicans , for the great confidence he had in the prior , that he would take care of him in his sickness , physicians were sent for far and near , who all with a joint opinion agreed , that the bishop was poysoned , and he himself doubted not of it at his death , praying unto god to forgive those , that had been the cause of it , and to accept of that sacrifice of his life , which he was willing to offer for the zeal of god's house , and honour . he lay not above a week in the cloister , and as soon as he was dead , all his body , face , and head did swell , that the least touch upon any part of him caused the skin to break , and cast out white matter , which had corrupted , and overflown all his body . a gentle-woman , with whom i was well acquainted in the city , who was noted to be somewhat too familiar with one of the bishop's pages , was commonly censured to have prescribed such a cup of chocolatte to be ministred by the page , which poysoned him , who so rigorously had forbidden chocolatte to be drunk in the church . my self heard this gentle-woman say of the deceased bishop , that she thought few grieved for his death ; and that the women had no reason to grieve for him , and that she judged he being such an enemy to chocolatte in the church , that , which he had drunk at home in his house , had not agreed with his body . and it became afterwards a proverb in that country , beware of the chocolatte of chiapa . which made me so cautious , that i would not drink afterwards in any house , where i had not very great satisfaction of the whole family . a certain spanish physician of sevil , who made it his peculiar inquiry to search into the nature of chocolata , as he doth on every occasion shew himself extraordinarily learned , and to have consulted all the publick discourses and private manuscripts about it , so he manifests a great regard to the testimony of experience , which he avows to be so favourable for chocolata , that there is not one , who doth drink it , and doth not feel himself to be manifestly refreshed , and strengthened , as well as delighted by it : and that , whereas none hath been known to live above seven dayes by drinking ☜ wine alone , one may live moneths , and years , using nothing but chocolata . in fine , he himself saw a childe weaned , which could not be brought by any artifice to take any food , and for four moneths space he was preserved alive by giving him chocolata only , mixing now and then some crumbs of bread therewith . so powerfull a virtue hath it to nourish , and strengthen . nor doth he allow it for food alone , and the preservation of life , but medicinally , as a thing , that is advantageous to health ; for he gives this character to a preparation of chocolata , which is almost the same with what i made for his majesty . antiquam compositionem chocolatis indiae & hispaniae enarrare , hoc tempore nullius fructûs erit ; quoniam illud habuit , ut ad ultimam perfectionem ●●veniret . ( i.e. ) it is not worth while to recount the antient wayes of compounding chocolata ; because this proposed is arrived at its heighth , and last degree of perfection . haec est omnium potionum pretiosior potio : haec in commodis salutis omnes superat , illarum nempe , quae in hodiernam diem aut voluptas invexit , aut decurrentium saeculorum series alternata conspexit ; quia nec in ea , dum in actum potionis reducitur , nec aliquo simplicium , ante ejus ingressum , vi●ae defuit necessarium , neque voluptati , quod non valeat illecebrâ appetitum allicere : sunt enim alia alimento gratissima , alia aromaticâ virtute roborantia , alia cordi auxiliantia , dum nectar vivificum instaurant , seu spiritus dissipant malignos , aut naturales robustae mixtionis producunt : sunt & omnia vitae longiùs producendae aptissima : quoniam chocolate ultimâ qualitate , quae resultat ex fermentatione , ùt theriaca , calorem nativum roborat , & promptâ instauratione influentem ( ob facilem conversionem ) multum & laudabilem sanguinem gignit . ob substantiae tenuitatem , & fermentationis efficaciam , indissolubiles & robustos spiritus , immortali labori & studiorum collimationi aptissimos , facultates praecipuas , & tempera●enti mixtio●e , & aromaticâ virtute in vigore conservat : moderato calore dum concoquitur , flatus turgentes dissipat , ac penetratione ap●rienti obstructiones aperit , menses provocat , & inter alia ventrem plerisque lenit ; & super omnia cibaria vires praesentaneè & promptissimè reficit , quod res aliae essentiâ potabiles non ità promptè agunt : quo videtur singulari differentiâ ob aliis differre . this is the most pretious drink of drinks ; this excells all others in advantages for our health , which either time by a long succession of years , or encrease of luxury and pleasure to this day hath acquainted us with : because neither in the chocolata it self being made into a drink , no nor in t any ingredient thereof , is there any thing wanting , that is necessary for the life , or delight of man , and so to invite him to use it . some things in it are most pleasant nourishment ; others strengthen by their aromatical virtue ; others are cordial , and revive the vital balsame , or nectar , either dissipating evil and burthensome spirits , or producing new ones of a durable nature . in fine , all are transcendently qualified to prolong life ; because chocolata by a u new quality arising to the composition through fermentation ( as happens in treacle ) strengthens the natural heat in each part , and encreaseth that , which continually in-flows , and influenceth it , begetting by a speedy and easie transmutation much and good blood : by the tenuity of its parts , and efficacious fermentation , it begets strong and indissipable spirits , and so enables men vigorously to prosecute their studies , and tedious exercises of the brain , it strengthens and preserves in full vigour the principal faculties in men by the exquisiteness of its temperament , and aromatical power : being digested , with its moderate heat it dispells winde ; and by its penetrancy , and opening quality , it removes obstructions , provoketh the monethly evacuations in women , and , amongst other qualities , it generally preserves the body x soluble : and it doth more speedily and readily refresh and invigorate the bodily strength , then any other sustenance whatever , no other potable liquours [ which yet do most quickly nourish ] producing so speedy and sensible an effect : whereby it seems to be peculiarly differenced from all other viands . chap. vi. how to make use of the chocolata by preparing it into drink . i think i have sufficiently ( at least according to my present leasure , and the unsupplyable want of my own library , and collections ) manifested the effects of chocolata : i shall now treat of the way of preparing it into drink , when any hath occasion to use it . and because that the composition it self is of the indian discovery , as i have hitherto still directed my inquiries by searching into their usages and opinions concerning the several ingredients , so i shall now begin with a recital of the several ways they use to prepare it into drink : and for this i have the most accurate account from a mr. gage , ( who yet seems to transcribe ledesma ) whom i shall therefore transcribe , with such animadversions , as may seem pertinent . the manner of drinking it is divers . the one ( being the way , which is used in mexico ) is to take it hot with atolle , dissolving a tablet in hot water , and then stirring it , and beating it in the cup , where it is to be drunk , with a molinet , and , when it is well stirred to a scum , or froth , then to fill the cup with hot atolle , and so drink it sup by sup . this way of preparing it may seem ( since it is the way of mexico ) to have been the way , that motezuma treated bernaldus del castillo with , when he caused to be brought forth jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao , con su espuma , great jarrs made with good cacao , with its froth . it is not to be questioned , but that the pure cacao-paste , well dissolved in hot water , and long , and violently agitated with a molinet , will raise a considerable ( but not lasting ) froth , not inferiour to what , with less agitation , is seen where eggs entire , or yolks alone , are put in : much more perhaps it may froth , if that paste had pochol or paniso grains mixed with it ; or , if being well milled before , it were a second time milled upon the commixture of the atolle : for the maiz flower would make it froth much ; and it is from the commixture of maiz , or bean-flower , ( or perhaps some other substitute ) that some chocolata doth now froth more then others ; though the difference in the milling likewise produce a variety . i have already explicated what atolle is , in the beginning , and so shall not repeat it ; but onely add , that , from this way of the indians using it , our physicians may order it to be drunk with streined water-gruel , almond-milk , or cremore ptisanae , or any other mixture they please , that is more , or less nourishing , as they please ; ordering the chocolata according to the aforesaid method : concerning which dr. iuanes de barrios gives this admonition , para hombres y mugeres sanguineos no se tome con atole , por que aumenta la sangre ; sino con aqua , poco anis , chile , y acucar , y mingunas especies aromaticas , ni cosas de olor . y para los flegmaticos se haga con todos los ingredientes , que avemos dicho , o con mas especies de lo ordinario , y se tome mui caliente . y en los melancholicos , que se haga sin chile , poco anis , y con coras de buen olor , y que se tome tibio . for men and women of a sanguine complexion , it is not to be taken with a●olle , because it multiplyeth blood in the body ; but with water , a little anise-seeds , chiles , and sugar , but no spicery is to be put in , nor sweet scented things , for such persons . but , for the phlegmatick , let it be made with all the ingredients used in the indies , or with a greater quantity of spices , then is ordinary , and let it be taken very hot . and , for the melancholy persons , see it be made without chiles , with a few anisefeeds , and with ingredients of a sweet smell , and taking it luke-warm . which caution may not only direct us as to atolle , which is not to be made , or used in england ; but illustrates and confirms an animadversion of mine formerly laid down : viz. that according to the several tempers and ☞ distempers of persons there ought to be framed variety of chocolata ; and that to be given variously , as the discreet physician shall propose ; and this is agreeable ( you see ) to the procedure of the indies . another way of drinking chocolatte is , that the chocolatte , being dissolved with cold water , and stirred with the molinet , and the scum taken of , and put into another vessel , the remainder be set on the fire , with as much sugar , as will sweeten it , and when it is warm , then to poure it on the scum , which was taken of before ▪ and so drink it . i understand not the reason of this procedure ; unless it be for ornament sake : it looking more pleasantly being thus ordered , then if the water were hot , and milled to a froth with chocolata , and so drunk . it is certain , yet strange , that the cacao-paste , being milled well with cold water , will froth as much , and yield as plentiful a scum , or cream upon setling , as it will do if it were milled in hot water : and i have shewed how that cream is fat , and the water also is fatty ( though cold ) in which it is milled , but it comes not to that red colour , which the other hath , which is prepared hot . this s●eum being taken of , and the rest heated , and put to it ( pouring it on high ) makes it look more pleasantly on the top , then if it were a bare solution of the cacao-paste , ( which ▪ will dissolve in it , so as not to precipitate any setling almost , whilest it is hot ) and the cacao-paste which remains ( after the froth is taken of ) to be heated dissolves sufficiently in the water by meer heating , without milling . besides these ways , there is another way ( which is much used in the island of santo domingo ) which is to put the chocolatte into a pipkin with a little water , and to let it boil well , till it be dissolved , and then to put in sufficient water , and sugar , according to the quantity of the chocolatte , and then to boil it again untill there comes an oily scum on it , and then to drink it . this way i was at first much pleased with , and upon tryal i found , that it did more perfectly dissolve the nut then any , and reduced it into a perfect fatty broth , which did not at all offend my stomach : but notwithstanding that it did not offend mine , yet i fear , that neither the adstringent bitterness of the cacao-paste ( which alone i drunk ) nor the aid of achiote , sugar , and spices ( which may loose their virtue by boiling , and are not used by the indians ) will render it supportable to tender stomachs ; so exceeding unctuous is the broth , or drink . but the most ordinary way is , to warm the water very hot , and then to poure out half the cup-full , that you mean to drink ; and to put into it a tablet , or two , or as much , as will thicken reasonably the water , and then grind it well with a molinet , and when it is well ground , and risen well to a scum , to fill up the cup with hot water , and so drink it by sups ( having sweetened it with sugar ) and to eat it with a little conserve , or maple-bread , steeped into the chocolatte . of this last way mr. gage saith not only , that it is the most used , but that certainly it doth no harm , and he recommends it to the practise of the english : he gives no reason why the chocolata may not be milled with all , but a part of the hot water ; nor do i apprehend any , except that the vessel , in which it is made , may be so little , as that it may not be able to contain the whole liquour to be milled , and prepared : for it must be done in a pretty deep vessel , that it may have room to dash about the sides , without flying out , or running over , as it is mill'd ▪ otherwise i think no man will believe , that there can be so equal and due commixture in the chocolata-drink , if one half only be mill'd , and the other half of water poured to it ; as if the whole were milled together : and consequently , it cannot be so good . wherefore the way now used at sevil seems more rational , whereby it is thus made . the chocolata-cake in a due proportion ( that is , in my chocolata , one ounce of paste , two ounces of sugar , and eight of water ) is dissolved in hot water ; it never boiling at the fire after the chocolata is put in ; because ( say they ) it will by boiling grow b sowrish , or be so depraved as to subvert the stomach . then it is well milled , that it may grow frothy , and fatty : then it is powred out into xicharas , or cups , and so drunk hot . they give a special caution , that after it hath been once milled , if it cool again , it is not to be heated and mill'd a second time , and so drunk . because , they say , it corrupts , and sowres : and herein they avouch their experience , and desire no reason may be urged against it . this caution , being given concerning the best spanish chocolata , and which most resembleth mine , i could not omit : and i am sure either it is not true , ( though we finde a difference in broths , when twice heated ) or it must arise from some ingredient ( i suppose the vaynillas ) and not from the cacao , the simple paste whereof i took and mill'd , and kept it several days , and heated it again ; and it was neither sowre , nor offensive to my stomach : and i kept it three days longer , and then heated it , milled it , and tasted it , and it varyed not its relish , but was inoffensive , and free from sowrishness . i boiled some of mine , and drunk it cold , unmilled , without annoyance : and i know a lady , that with success boiled it twice . here in england we are not content with the plain spanish way of mixing chocolata with water : but they either use milk alone ; or half milk , and half conduit-water ; or else thicken the water ( if they mix no milk with it ) with one or more eggs put in entire , or yolks only into the water , or where milk is mingled with the water . in which way , as it is sold in the chocolata-houses , there are these inconveniences : if it be done with milk , it is natural for milk , being hot , and standing so , to cast up a scum ; and , if it cool , it creams : so that , if the chocolata be kept after it is milled , and not immediatly drunk , either upon your second milling it you must cast away the scum ( or cream , if it stand cold ) or mill it into the d●ink . the former course we●●ens it , by casting away also the flower , 〈◊〉 cream of the chocolata ; and the latter renders it unpleasant . and as to the mixture of eggs , if they be put in with the yolks ▪ and white● , and suffered to stand , the white● will harden , and disgrace the chocolata● but if only the yolks be put in , and well milled , i have tryed them so , by not only letting the chocolata stand hot before the fire , but even to boil it again , and mill it , and let it again stand for several hours before the fire , and i have not perceived it to vary the taste , or to embody into any thicker consistence then before it had ; only i observed , that it did not yield so much cream , ( or scarce any ) on the top , nor such visible discoveries of fattiness , as it would have done otherwis● : and the setling at the bottom ( which upon refrigeration seemed as great , ☞ as if no egg had been mix'd with it , though the decoction or water were thicker much by reason of the additional yolk ) did not carry so much unctuousness , being tasted , as did those other setlings , which i had tryed , without commixing any egg with them , either only once milling , or boiling them also . from whence i leave it to the more mature consideration of others to determine , whether the commixture of an egg be good , since it seems to hinder the dissolution of the cacao into oily or unctuous parts ; and whether it may not produce a like effect in the 〈◊〉 , as it does in the pipkin , ( concoction being but a sort of elixation ) and so impede the nourishment expected from the chocolata : it being oftentimes as true , quae prodesse queant singula , juncta nocent : as that other saying , et quae non prosunt singula , juncta juvant . but these experiments were made with the simple paste of the cacao-nut , and not with compound chocolata . in spain to cholerick constitutions , and where there is any extraordinary heat , or inflammation of the liver , or kidni●● , i find , that there is a more milde and temperate way of chocolata , then is usual , prepared : or else the usual one is diluted with endive or scorsonera water : and where phlegm and crudities abound , there it is prescribed with the water of radishes , fennel , or carduus benedictus , which ( say they , though some in england protest against it ) vary not the taste , but encrease its virtue . it is given thus by way of alteration , as are other alteratives , general medicines being premised ; and every sixth day there is either another gentle purge given , or the chocolata is then dissolved in an infusion of mechoacan , or the like . in the winter it is drunk hot ( being given to open obstructions ) and in the spring it is drunk in a more moderate temper : after it they prescribe exercise for an hour , or half an hour , which must be moderate : and this course is continued thirty , or at least twenty days , or indefinitely till they be well : which they will soon know , the pale recovering their colour , and the short-breathed their winde ; the vrine amending its colour , and consistence : and all symptoms either mitigating , or ceasing . but , if the obstructions be inveterate , and too difficult to be overcome by this method , then they prescribe every day half a dram of rhubarb trochiscated to be mix'd with the chocolata , or of madder-root , or a dram of steel prepared . and this is the spanish practise , and from which anton. colmenero de ledesma varyeth not much ; as he , that shall compare him with my intelligence , will easily see . there is another way of drinking chocolatte cold , which the indians use at feasts , to refresh themselves , as it is made after this manner . the chocolatte ( which is made with none , or very few ingredients ) being dissolved in cold water with the molinet , they take off the scum , or ●rassie part , which riseth in great quantity , especially when the cacao is older , and more putrefied : the scum they lay aside in a little dish by it self , and then put sugar into that part , whence the scum was taken , and then poure it from on high into the scum , and so drink it cold . and this drink is so cold , that it agreeth not with all mens stomachs : for by experience it hath been found , that it doth hurt , by causing pains in the stomach , especially to women . i should except against this way , not for the bare coldness only , ( though c piso and a●ton . colmenero de ledesma agree with mr. gage in the noxious effects of chocolata drunk thus cold ) but because of its nauseousness : for i found it to offend my stomach with its coldness , more then if it had been pure water ; and the nauseousness was insupportable , which did arise from the fat of the nut dissolving in the water , and rendring it as odious , as would be fat mutton-broth drunk cold . the spaniards drink not the simple cacao-paste dissolved in cold water , as do the indians : but as that nation is inclined to drink snow , snow-water , and drinks refrigerated in snow ( which are more authenticated by custom , and iodisyncra●ie , then reason ) so they refrigerate and freeze their solution of chocolata , richly aromatised , with snow : and so the gallants , especially the ladies , drink it ; reputing the spice a sufficient corrective of the coldness , and nauseousness of it . i do believe , that it is not this way so nauseous , as the indian way : but i cannot believe it wholesom , since so cold drinks ( before the heat of the spice be actuated by the stomach ) do often make a fatal and irrecoverable impression upon the stomach it self , and lungs , and heart , and womb ; and is generally ( not universally ) condemned even as poyson by the spanish physicians , however that their authority is suspended by a contrary practise received in madrid , and sevil. as to the time of taking it , it is held ( by the spaniards ) the most fit time to take it in the morning , and supper being digested , and the body fresh , and the stomach empty to receive it ; ( or else it may be taken in the morning not upon the first stirring , and before any repaste , but after the taking of some other sustenance in a moderate quantity : ( for then it seems most acceptable to the stomach , and most necessary for the undergoing the employments of the subsequent day . besides crude , and indigested , or depraved reliques of the last night's meal are hereby either d reduced under a second concoction for the use of the body , or outed the stomach for its ease . the chocolata it self also is much more easily concocted , and distributed , whilst there is not any thing else in the stomach to delay , or retard its progress into the veins , and vasa chylifera : its influence is then more sensible to dissipate any noxious vapours . which effects are to be supposed to follow , if it be taken with moderation ; being neither of too thick e a consistence , nor too large a quantity . some there are , who have taken it usually , instead of wine [ which is their table-drink in spain ] at diner , and supper : but this hath not been sufficiently experimented , that it may be vulgarly permitted ; since perhaps custom , or individual constitution , or a moderation in diet , ( which helps all errours , but is not vulgarly to be presumed on ) may render it only innoxious to them . but it is certain , that it may freely be taken four or five hours after diner , concoction being then finished , and the meat not only dissolved in , but distributed in great part out of the stomach . and so it will enable them to persist till night , or ( if they eat no suppers ) the day following . nor need any fear , that being taken at such a time as four or five a clock , it will prejudice his sleep the night following : for such accidents befall only those , who take it f late at night , and not so early , as it is here recommended : or where the chocolata is too hot of spices , so as that it begets too great an agitation and servour in the blood ; which may befall any body : or where the body is of so hot and cholerick a temper , that it cannot bear chocolata moderately spiced , or compounded with milde spices . but in phlegmatique persons , and such as are aged , it is observed , that it causeth them to rest excellently well . they further caution us , if we be dry , or in summer , not to drink chocolata till we have first drunk some cold water , [ which is instead of beer to them in spain , when they drink not wine ] lest chocolata [ as it is now compounded with spices , and sugar ] should produce , or augment our thirst . and , after we have drunk chocolata , they strictly prohibit all manner of drink ; for , whether water or wine be drunk after it , there do frequently ensue very dangerous diseases , and symptomes . a very observing spanish physician assures us upon his own knowledg , some have been thereby immediatly seised with a vertiginous indisposition , and giddiness ; g others with a cholera very many have falle● speechless . it is also prohibited by them as hurtfull in fevers , ; [ because prepared otherwise then by the indians ] as augmenting the disease . so they prohibit it in fluxes , by reason of its lubricity to encrease the already excessive laxity of the guts : yet they confess it hath sometimes been beneficial in lienteries . but , in conclusion , my author tells us , that it is a certain thing , that however these cautions may seem rational , yet it is not observable , how the drinking of chocolata can be reduced under any certain model of rules in the taking it ; since it is become so universally used [ in spain ] ☜ that it is taken at all hours , and times ; it is the delight of the masters , the sustenance of families , and the grand entertainment of friends : quia jam sine illo vitam nesciunt because they know not how to live without it . ; there is another way of taking it made into lozenges , or shaped into almonds , with orange-flower water , amber-grise , sugar , and the white of an egg , gum-dragant , and perhaps some other ingredients . as to the former way of making up chocolata into lozenges , or cakes , and so eating it , my spanish author gives it this character , ( which indeed extends to both sorts ) mandendo , aut in buccellis comedere , insuperabiles obstruction●● creat , seu dum fiunt bellaria cum saccharo , aut in pasta ●omeditur : to eat chocolata in cakes , or otherwise by bits , begets insuperable obstructions ; that is , if you eat it made up into confects or sweat-meats with sugar , or in paste . i cannot , i must confess , pass so general a sentence on chocolata : i suppose the opinion of it is to be regulated by the goodness of the chocolata that is ea●en ; and that i leave to be examined by my precedent discourse about the variety thereof . that the cacao-nut is nourishing , there is no doubt of it ; that the simple paste may innocently be eaten , i think too : but that chocolata made up with so great a proportion of sugar , and with such spices , oils , and essences , as are used ( all , or some of them ) in the chocolata designed for that use , i believe no physician will promis●uously , and without distinction of persons , allow it , but who hath another opinion of sugar , and spicery ( except what i have recommended ) and chymical oils , and essences , then i have in this case , or many other . it is true , hippocrates saith , it is easier to be nourished with drinks , then solid meat ; and that they , who have need to be quickly refreshed , must be dieted with drinks , or potable liquours : but these two sayings make not for the giving of chocolata in paste , or confects , no more then his recommending in sundry cases p●isanes of barley doth encourage us to give to weak stomachs barley●bread : or , because almond-milk is good , therefore to recommend the maccaroni of italy so condemned by h fienus . should i say never so much for the one or other way , and evince them to be better , then any preparations of almonds , and pistachias ; as i beliveve them to be : yet would they still be sweet-meats , and consequently more used , fienus . should i say never so much for the one or other way , and evince them to be better , then any preparations of almonds , and pistachias ; as i beliveve them to be : yet would they still be sweet-meats , and consequently more used , then approved . and the obstructiveness of them , how inveterate and obstinate soever , arises not from any particular badness of the cacao-nut , but from the general unwholesomness of all confects , and sweet-meats . and this i shall not now make out by arguments , ( though it might easily be done ) but by the instance given by dr. hart in his diet of the diseased ( lib. 1. cap. 22 ) and it is as follows . i remember , living in paris 1607 , a young clerk , living with a lawyer in the city , procured a false key for the closet , where his mistresses sweet-meats lay : and for many days together continued thus to feast with her sweet-meats , and loaf-sugar ( whereof there was no small store ) untill at length he became so pale in colour , lean in body , and withall so feeble , that he was scarce able to stand on his legs ; insomuch that the skilfullest physicians of the city , with the best means they could use , ●ad much ado to restore him to his former health again . a little time will shew whether the use of these new cakes will be as prejudicial to health , and productive of consumptions , and other weaknesses of the back , or hypochondria , in our english women ; as the rest of sweet-meats have been : for it is the general opinion , that the multitude of sweet-meats used by our ladies is the occasion of our aforesaid diseases so much increasing . i i shall not now enquire into the verity of the opinion : for there are instances of countries , in which sweet-meats are much more used then here amongst us , and yet they ●re not so molested , as we , with those distempers . i say then , that the ill effects of sweet-meats do but accidentally follow upon their use , and therefore we ought to examine those circumstances , that occasion his variety of effects : which i have not leisure to do , nor that opportunity , which i expect amidst the sugar-works of the west indies . chap. vi. the author's judgment concerning chocolata summarily delivered , as to its effects , and the ways of using it . it were easie to evidence the excell●ncy of warm drinks above those , that are taken cold , if i had leisure : for certainly , if the use of drink be to allay thirst , to moisten the body , and to distribute or help the digestion of the food we take ; it is not to be doubted , but hot drinks perform all this better then cold : and for the evincing of this to each point , both reason and experience might be alledged . for the practise of the antient romans favours much hot drinks ; as every man knows ; and the modern tryals of campanella , and a gassendus , as well as antonius persius , doth manifest , that all the aforesaid ends may be attained by warm or hot drinks : and particularly , as to the quenching of thirst , it is undenyable , that hot drink not only quencheth it at present , but prevents its return , better then cold ; and yields as much delight , maugre the assertion of pliny , that all animals desire cold drink : and that musty definition of aristotelian philosophy , that sitis est appetitus frigidi & humidi : thirst is a desire of cold and moisture ; which is notoriously false , disproved by the arguments and tryal of gassendus as well as others . yea drinks , that are taken hot , surpass themselves in their effects , compared to what they do when taken cold . thus hot water drunk daily before diner cures the stone , and gravel in the reins , as zecchius affirms , and b trallianus : and the benefit others have found by it doth manifest . wine drunk hot doth much more corroborate a weak stomach , then when drunk cold ; as c costaeus avows , and hath been tryed by several in consumptions , to my knowledg . i shall not speak concerning the decoctions of china-root , sarsa-parilla , and guajacum , of which the same assertion may be made . i have not leisure to insist hereon , nor the conveniency of my library to aid my memory with citations at present . i suppose then , that , in general , chocolata is rather advantaged , then prejudiced , by being an hot drink . it is of an unquestionable nourishment : for , as it is the chief sustenance of the spanish indies , this cannot be colourably denyed : and though pope vrban the eighth did declare it in discourse , and by a solemn bull , that it was meerly a drink , and so consistent with the fasts of the church ; yet few believe him infallible therein , who understand the drink : and the carmelite-friers , by way of mortification , have a statute amongst them in the indies , that they will drink no chocolata . you will not finde mr. gage to take a journey , but he makes it an important care to provide chocolata : nor is he singular therein ; but follows the general example of the spaniards . whether he is treated publickly by towns , or privately by particular persons , his entertainment and refection is chocolata ▪ agreeable to what acosta says , d it is a drink very much esteemed among the indians , wherewith they feast noble-men , as they pass thorough their country . the spaniards , both men , and women , that are accustomed to the country , are very greedy of it . the nut is one of the richest commodities of the e west-indies : and however some disallow the use of it raw , or roasted , others do repute it less obstructive , and more wholsom then they judge it to be . the nut is of an exceeding fatty substance , being viewed in a microscope : in a iamaica-nut i could observe large and spreading veins or streaks of white fat , which i suppose to make the fat , which appears upon digesting , or boiling it without milling it . examining the caraca-nut by a microscope i could observe nothing of fatty veins , or streaks ; yet is not that nut leaner , then the other : i know not whether i ought to call it oyl , or fat ; and for either appellation i may be questioned : but , give it what name you please , i dare avow , that one ounce of cacao-paste well digested will yield more fat , then a pound of fat beef , or mutton , even when stewed . besides the fat , which never so separates from the other parts , as to lose totally its bitterness , whereby it is preserved agreeable , and not nauseous to the stomach , there is a red part , which principally contains the bitter parts : it hath been generally reputed as an earthy and obstructive thing ; but , without doubt , it is as necessary , as any part of the nut , and as little to be rejected : for it is that part , which fortifies the stomach , and enables it to bear the oyliness or fattishness of the rest of the chocolata-potion : it preserves the taste in its vigour , and the appetite , which would otherwise be dulled by the fatty potion : and as it helps digestion in the stomach ; so in the guts , it promotes concoction there ; and corroborates them : all which is not to be denyed to parts of that relish , as we experiment daily in herbs of a bitterish taste : nor need we to fear its costiveness ; for , as none ever experimented such an inconvenience by taking good chocolata , so i think it impossible , it should bind ; since it is fermentation , that we owe each stool to ; and it is impossible what promotes that in the guts , can ever create a prejudice by too great an adstringency . it is strange , that all ages and countries finde it to agree with them , and the effects of it are such every where , that it alone may seem to supply all food and physick . i have heard and read discourses of panaceas , and vniversal medicines : and truly i think chocolata may as justly at least pretend to that title , as any . for indubitably health is nothing else but an ability to discharge the several ends , to which nature hath designed us : and this depends upon the preserving each individual person in the individual constitution , which nature hath given him . for howbeit , that we propose to our selves the idea ( conformable to what polycletus did in another case ) of a man exactly tempered ; yet it is not the intent of a physician to reduce every patient thereunto : to the cholerick it is his nature , not disease to be so ; and so for the other complexions : and to subvert the particular temperament , is to destroy , not to cure : and the attempt will not succeed . to preserve a man herein , it is necessary , that his food be such , as digests well , begets good blood and spirits : and that this blood ( in which according to the scripture is the life of animals ) be depurated so by the several emunctories , as that it may qualifie the party to exercise those acts , the performance whereof is an evidence of life ; and the well-performance of them , health . it is natural for the blood to purge it self by several ways ; and , if that be done , all the operations of life , and the intermissions of any of them , will be according to nature . to imagine , that this can be performed by medicines , is an impertinent folly : the blood is more naturally purg'd by transpiration , and sweat ; by urine , and siege duely discharg'd ; by spittle , and snot ; then by any purges , or vomits , or electuaries , or phlebotomy . it is not to be done much less by one medicine ; for though such an arcanum were in being , as would depurate the blood , and revive the decayed ferments of nature : yet would it require other circumstances to effect this , as a moderation of diet , and the six things non-natural , &c. without which it can do no more on the blood , then the mixture of barm doth to wort ; it may be ready to produce a fermentation , but it will not open a bung-hole , or create vents for the drink . frequent phlebotomy hastens old age , besides other inconveniences : frequent purges are much worse ; for it is usual with nature , when taught one course to pursue that to the discontinuing of other evacuations : so that , to teach nature to disburthen her self into the guts , and stomach , ( neither of which are designed for vehicles or receptacles of excrements remaining after digestion , or cast in there by nature , but for a continued concoction , prosecuted by nature from first to last ) is to teach her to omit her other evacuations , which are as necessary as going to stool , and ( which is more ) to accustom her to disburthen her ill humours into those parts , the right tone whereof is that , whereon principally health depends . let us consider , how our palat and taste is disorder'd by the defluxion or redundancy of an insipid salt , or sharp and vitrioline humour : let us examine the like inconveniences , when they befall the stomach , and by this analogy conjecture at the effects , which arise in the guts upon the like accidents . and can we think it prudence to use nature to discharge it self into that chanel , so often as we do ? view the world , and you will see , that not one of those , that constantly take purging and opening diet-drinks ; that deal so much in pills of scammony , and other such like purges ; not one of them , but is more or less hypochondriacal : whereas those country-people , which sweat , and labour , enjoy an undisturbed health , strength , and fresh colour . to apply all this , since the nature of health is such , as i have described it to be ; and that it depends upon such means , as i have specified ; it is undenyable , that there is not any thing hitherto extant in physick , that may compare with chocolata , which is not only mony in the indies , but food , and medicine too every where ▪ it yields good nourishment , with this advantage , ( wherein it surpasses all wines , and cordial spirits ) that its nourishment is not only quick , but less dissipable then theirs . it begetteth such blood , as fitly depurates it self by stool , vrine , spittle , and sweat ; as ● have observed in my self : and consequently there cannot be any thing more apt to preserve health , and vigour of spirit . ● must profess it to be the assertion of the indian writers , ☞ that it opens obstructions , provokes vrine , and sweat. i dispute not its temperament , be it hot , or cold , or impervestigable : but i shall tell my own experiments , consonant to the indian discourses . i never could finde any such effects , when i took it mix'd with eggs , or milk : and indeed i like not much either of those ways , since the nut there seems to differ much from it self , when prepared alone ; as i observed in the dressing of it with the yolk : and the same i have observed with the white , when commix'd the ordinary way ; though i must needs say , that i have so put in , and mill'd the whole egg , that the whites have never curdled , though it hath been heated twice . but , to pursue my inquiry into the truth of the indian assertion , i prepared it the indian and spanish way , and walking upon it , i felt my self to be seised with a gentle sweat , or moisture , and moderately to purge by vrine , and to expectorate : and this i finde constantly to befall me , if i take it so : and it less offends the stomach , and refreshes more ▪ then any other way . having been lately at a fish-diner , i found my self not well after it ; coffee gave me no ease : but rather encreased the distemper ; till i forced my self to vomit several times : having done so , i went to bed ( it being night ) and drunk a large draught of hot chocolata , prepared the indian and spanish way , and i suddenly fell into a sleep , and sweat : and so continued all night-long , and found my self perfectly well in the morning . this effect seemed more strange , because many think chocolata to oppose sleep , but i found my repose then very suddain , and lengthened at least three hours beyond what i usually take . since that , i have sundry times taken it that way , going to bed , and i have found it no way to prevent sleep : nay , i never sleep better , then when i take it : and therefore i am ready to give this reason for mr. gage's taking it , as often as he was to fit up ; not to keep him awake , but to preserve his spirits , which in the indies need a frequent supply of food . or it may be said , since sleepiness , and natural sleep are tow things , that chocolata may allay splenetique fumes , and drowsiness , and yet promote natural sleep . and as chocolata provokes other evacuations thorough the several emunctories of the body , so it doth that of seed , and becomes provocative to lust upon no other account , then that it begets good blood ; that nourisheth much , and , as it nourishes , separates the already inexistent superfluities ; or varies , and degenerates into new excrements , which are to be discharged out of the body by their several passages , one whereof are the spermatick vessels . if i do call the seed an excrement , i am sure i have aristotle's authority for it : which will make it the less a paradox to the vulgar ; whilst others f concur with me herein , who by excrement understand nothing , but quod natur a excernere decreverat , what nature intended to excern : and that the seed is such a thing , is undenyable , i think . the use of venery is as natural , as for a man to blow his nose : though not so lawfull every way ; since even simple fornication is prohibited the g gentiles with as strict necessity , as the eating of blood , and things strangled : and however after-times have absolved themselves from the necessity , which prohibited the latter , by eating strangled rabbets , and black-puddings : yet have few or no divines attempted the former , or alleviated it : howbeit that *** h and it is an unquestionable experiment , that moderate venery eases the chest , revives the brain , impinguates the body , and cures or contributes much to the cure of many diseases in both sexes : it is admirably effectual in hot distempers , and madness of the brain in young unmarried folks ; as i have seen , both in maniacks , and melancholicks , whose cure hath been more facilitated hereby , if not totally effected , then by repeated phlebotomy , and extenuating diet , and potions , or electuaries . yea , i have known a chronical tertian break in the spring by a critical solution of this nature : which , however it may seem incredible , is i am sure true ; nor had the party ever before experimented those pollutions ; but he did instantly recover , and was so far from being debilitated with a large critical eruption , that he was beyond belief at that very time refreshed , and strengthened in his spirits . i shall not insist upon the benefit women receive ●hereby : though i could recite an infinity of cases out of the physicians for nunneries , that might be considerable herein ; their hysterical fits , hypochondriacal-melancholy , love-melancholy , atrophy , their spermatical fevers ( related by sinibaldus in his geneanthropia ) are instances of the necessity hereof : and then the great prudence of moses , who , if he severely prohibited , that there should be no whore amongst the daughters of israel , he took great care for their timely marriage . as for men , i have known many , who , being absent from their wives but a few days , would be troubled with a smelling of the testicles , or an unusual paleness , and stupi●●●● of brain seising on them , who would finde a constant and infallible cure again in the embraces of their wives . nor is this passage designed by nature alone for the evacuation of the seed : i have shewed how a chronical tertian critically did break that way ; and many other eruptions happen that way , then are seminal . i mention not the virulent gonorrhaea ; but intend other pollutions , and ejections , which are recorded in the books of the roman casuists , especially● gerson de pollutione nocturna . and , if i be thought immodest in this discourse , i am sure the chancellour of paris is never named ( no not by protestants ) but with honour , notwithstanding what he hath writ ; and there are passages in the bible , that retrench , as much upon civility , as any thing , that hath falle● from my pen : and i treat of nothing , but what is as much included within my profession , as within the subject of casuists ; and why should i be more blamed ? is it not one of the ends of marriage to prevent burning ? yea , is not this the principal argument insisted on by the protestants in the behalf of a marryed clergy ? **** let us then take it for a certain position , that what yields the best blood , and promotes all naturall expurgations , is the best of food , and physick . and that chocolata is such , appears by what i have already said . i cannot allow it to be provocative upon any other account : ( if it be prepared without any lust-full ingredients ) and it hath this advantage above the most butcher's meat ( the taking whereof with chearfulness , and manly exercises , is the best venereal preparation ) that it allays , with its milde and vegetable oiliness , the sharpness of the blood , and nervous liquour , which the animal sulphureousness of the other does not . there can be no universal prescript for the promoting seminal excretions : yet , since it is a part of physical institutions , and treated on by every english'd institutionist , i shall enlarge thereon , for the benefit of the married : which is a justification always sufficient for these kind of discourses . i take it for granted , that there is a particular ferment implanted in the testicles , and seminal parts adjacent , whose nature it is , after that it hath lain digesting , and maturing for so many years ( viz. twelve in females , and fourteen in males ; more , or less , according to the individual temperament ) then to exert it self , and to vigorate the blood , so as the whole body , as well as voice , suffers a great change : the aspect becomes more lively , and chearfull , their wits more ripe , their carriage more debonair , their nerves more agile : in fine , i may here accommodate , as to the age beginning to be qualified for thoughts of love ▪ what the comedian said concerning love it self , ade●ne ex amore quenquam immutarier , vt non cognosces eundem esse ? this seminal ferment in i●s first operations doth only impregnate the blood , and nervous liquour , circulating , and passing through those places , in which it resides , with a new and unspeakable vigour , and sprightliness , without occasioning any excretion , or seminal congestion in the testicles , or prostate , but inclining to erect : for the operation of each ferment hath its time , and requires a determinate subject to operate on . thus lads have venereal prol●sions ▪ yet without emission ; because the seminal ferment doth enlive● their blood , without any separating of seed thence : for the blood , and proportionably the liquor of the nerves , is not of the same nature in striplings , as it is in men of fuller growth ; there being in the former a great deal of phlegm with a small quantity of spirit , and vol●til salt , whereas the latter is of a much different nature : and consequently , the effects of the ferment are not so powerfull in the former , as in the latter . from this consideration it is easie to finde out a reason , why striplings are longer before they eject , then others , and yield not so much pleasure to the female they embrace . their seed being without doubt clogged with phlegm , which doth more slowly issue out , and , for want of salt , and spirit , doth not so affect the womb , that receives it , as doth that of a grown man : and this is the reason , that one man differs from another in the pleasure arising from his embraces ▪ and a woman , accustomed to the society of one husband , may either not love him , or prefer another , with more excuse , then the vulgar allow , or apprehend : there being a very great resemblance betwixt the womb , and the stomach , and as great a possibility , that the one is capable of loathing some — as well as the other may do some meats : and of this , as to the variety and difference betwixt woman and woman , or betwixt the same woman at one time , and at another , i have been assured by men of great experience , as also by sundry eminent writers , as vlmus , campanella , and sinibaldus : and martial many times insinuates it . whilst it is not natural for this seminal ferment to act , so long the blood needs no such evacuation ; and the attempts of it are prejudicial to the health , untimely venery hastening old age : but , when the blood and nervous liquor becomes acrimoniou● thorough the abundance of spirit , and salt , and that it is impregnated by the seminal ferment , as water passing thorough minerals : then it is natural for it to depurate it self by a separation of seed in and about the testicles : and that , being separated there , is not reimbibed into the vessels again usually , ( for in some cases i believe it to be ) but it will force its way out in nocturnal pollutions , or create perpetual inclinations to lust ; or , in part remixing with the blood , after it hath been long extravasated , it begets redness and pimples in the face , acrimony of blood , sputation , oppressions of the chest , palpitations of the heart , furliness of humour , disturbed sleeps , head-aches , a peculiar distemper in the brain , as ( together with its cure ) is more evident to i sense , then to be expressed by language . this is the nature of man , who in paradise was to encrease , and multiply ; and by the fall his nature was d●bilitated , not lost ▪ in his book k concerning the city of god it is avowed by st. austin , that adam in paradise , before the fall , could have erected at pleasure , and that the motions of the flesh were so perfectly subordinate to his will , that he could as easily have moved his — as his hand ; a constant vigour and immortality of spirits attending him , and being entailed on him , whilest he continued in that condition : but , since the fall of adam , those amorous inclinations are less constant to men , and depend upon other circumstances , then the dictates of his will. the effects of grace bestowed on adam are endeavour'd to be supplyed ( where youth , or nature fails ; the efforts whereof are infinitely short of the pleasures of paradise ) by salt , or spiced meats , cullises , and iellies . but neither a●choves , or bononia-sawsages ; no preparations of cock or lamb-stones , or diasatyrion equal that primitive condition : nor do the fruits in iamaica call'd cushu equal the feeding of the tree of life , as to this point . some are provocative only by producing a strong and well-digested nourishment . thus solid and substantial butcher's meat , and the like , are the only lustfull sustenance to a good constitution , and strong body , inured to vigorous exercises : for the performances of the bed are not created therein . ease and soft-lying do but effeminate the body , and they become unable to concoct strong meats : and the seed becomes worse-digested , and , as i may call it , worse-relished for the gusto of the womb ; the erection is less vigorous , and the spirituascency of the seed little ; and the ejaculation too suddain , weak and improportionate to the ardours , and desires , and expectation too of the female paramour . the nourishment , that ariseth from substantial meats , and of full growth , is less dissipable , and more impregnated with animal salt , then the young , tender flesh , or liquid sups : they require and preserve a strong stomach ; which lighter meats do not : and exercise depurates the blood , separating out the several excrements by distinct emunctories , whereby the blood is better concocted , and capable to yield a more vigorous seed , and to bear its ejection more easily , then otherwise it would . the nerves and muscles are more tense and strong ; the pulse is more full and strong after waking , then in the sleep : and every man experiments the truth hereof in himself . to a good constitution if you give wine , spiced-drinks , or other delicacies , or luxurious provocations , you destroy his stomach , and debilitate him . these incentives are only for the phlegmatick . the others ( especially the more hot ) are more provoked by cooling things , and what fixes rather , then heightens the spirits . thus rachel purchase mandrakes for iacob . thus the amorous and martial turk drinks opium , and shirbet , to continue his lust , as well as strength : and however the generality prefer the yolks of eggs , the most observing l petronaus , and others , who have tryed it , bid me say , there is not any thing in art , that equals the white of an egg mix'd with some temperate cordial emulsion , or beaten with rose-water , and mix'd cautelously ( to prevent curdling ) with some streined water-gruel , or the like , and sweetened with sugar . and being prepared this last way ( or with rose-mary-posset-drink ) it is an excellent thing for any cold , or for a weary traveller , causing him to rest well , and reliveing his strength , so as to diminish or take away all wearisomness occasion'd by hard travail . others will be the more inclined to this opinion not by tryal , but common reason : it being the white , out of which the chick is shaped ; the yolk being entire , when the chick is almost ready to hatch . it is an albugineo●s substance , out of which we are created , and fed in the womb : and the seed ejected hath a more then ordinary resemblance , in its colour , consistence , and spirituascency , to the white of an egg. besides , it is the white of an egg , which makes the bread , cakes , &c. to be light ; your yolks commix'd make them heavy : the one allays all acrimony of humours ; the other encreases choler , and augments the evil humours in the stomach by being easily depraved . in summ , i think it can hardly be imagined , that the yolks of eggs be good food ; since the taste of them upon the stomach , after the eating of other meat , is a sign of ill-digestion . and indeed the taking of the aforesaid preparation of whites of eggs is never more necessary , then after those amorous conflicts ; when the nerves and blood are weakened by the late effusion , and the vigorous performance of those venereal exercises , in which the whole body suffers a very great agitation , and the sinews a tension answerable to the stretching of a chord ; the whole blood boils , and the brain labours proportionable to the passion of the inamorato : who , if he be not of too hot a complexion , exchangeth those transports , and pleasing languours , which conclude these dalliances , for a delightful slumber ; but , if he be of a more cholerick , or hot constitution , the disorders of his blood survive his delights , and diminish them much by rendring him melancholy , or peevish , and either immediatly , or not long after creating him an head-ac● , which is not allayed but by the night's repose . to prevent this , our wise fore-fathers in england made it a custom each wedding-night to provide a sack-posset with eggs for the bride-groom to eat of , going to bed ; and also to stand by him all night , that he might eat of it , as often as he pleased , to recruit his spirits . i should recommend the like practise ( either mixing his whites of eggs with gruel , or sack , or sack-posset-drink ; and omitting , or lessening the yolks ) to every lover , as often as he is engaged , taking of it immediatly after he hath ended his sport : whereby he will ( provided it be not too thick ) prevent the inconveniences of the past conflict , and be enabled for another . as for chocolata , how effectual it may be herein , i understand not by experience : but , since the most amorous nations in the world drink it , it is very possible , it may conduce thereunto much . if it be the design of physick to preserve nature , and free her from superfluous collections of humours ; and nothing doth that better then chocolata , as far as venery is but the collection and ●jection of a superfluity gathered in , and about the testicles : without doubt physicians cannot decline to recommend it . it chears the spirits , begets good blood , and opens all the emunctories of the body , and passages , by which nature designs the ejectment of some particular humour . and this is to be understood of the cacao-paste , and milde compositions of chocolata , in which there is nothing , that doth beget a particular fusion in the blood , and a titillation inclining a man to venery beyond the natural disposition of the person . what i have hitherto spoken had no further intent , then the support of that nature , which god gave us , and which , as i have shewed out of st. austin , hath been much impaired by the fall . i know many will be apt to censure this discourse , as tending to sensuality , and the upholding carnal lusts and desires : but i suppose the more prudent will acquit me from any such imputation ; since that is not the use , but abuse of chocolata , and is common to it with all other meats of good nourishment : against which i do not hear them so to declaim , as to interdict them totally . i am not ignorant , that there is a doctrine of mortification , and that we ought to suppress carnal lusts : but i am to learn , that this is to be understood literally ; and that we must geld our selves like origen , or chastise our selves with the papists , and not understand all those doctrines spiritually , and like good protestants , defying the exercises falsely called spiritual by the popish friers , and iesuits , who practise this literal mortification : whilest we imagine that carnality may be subdued by other means , captivating the vnderstanding into the obedience of faith , and subduing our wills , not breaking our backs ; and denying our lusts , whilst we preserve a nature and temperament given us by god. i expect the greatest censure from those , who disclaim fasting-days , and ember-weeks ; who keep lent with capon , sack and roast beef ; which is their luxury : and what they condemn in others is but a different and less solid luxury , then what they pursue . i am not any way disposed to instruct men in evil , and would not seem to encourage them therein : and , to evidence this , i shall now speak concerning the more compound chocolatas , which are made , or used on purpose to augment venereous inclinations . the things usually designed to exstimulate nature to excessive venery are very hot , and aromatical , and which also carry with them an acrimony , or saltness , wherewith they continually excite nature ; which being incessantly provoked thereby casts out whatever is next , whether it be well or ill-concocted seed , or phlegm , or blood impregnated with a saliness . it is not heat alone in meats , that doth it : for the effect of cloves , cinnamom , and nutmegs , or mace is not equivalent to that of pepper , or salt , and salt-meats . these last operate by introducing a momentany or lasting saltness , or acrimony in the blood , which , as it circulates thorough each part , makes different impressions , according to the different nature , or indisposition of the part . and , if any disease introduce any acrimony or saltness into the blood , the same persons will be much inclined to venery , thus those , who have the itch , and leprosie , as also the melancholick persons are exceeding amorous ; however the last bear those evacuations very ill ; and the lying long , and on soft beds , and living idly , doth render men lascivious ; but these are not natural , but morbid inclinations , and therefore are neither executed with that activity , nor hath their seed that relish , or gusto in the womb of the feminine consort , that attends vigorous and active men. for ease and idleness retard transpiration : and those humours , which should issue out according to the several intents , and passages of nature , being retained , or resumed into the blood again , introduce an acrimony into it , whereby nature is exstimulated to an ineffectual venery . thus , after long agues , or the recovery out of chronical diseases , a salacity possesses the patient , which as it ariseth from no other cause , then i have already specified ; so it is prejudicial to the person he embraceth , for hereby diseases are transplanted oftentimes , as the pocks , and consumptions : or new ones introduced , of which the poor woman is not apprehensive , being ignorant of this cause lying in the constitution of the seed of her husband newly recovered , or newly having fill'd his veins with acrimony , or saline humour , occasioned by some late entertainment . and when i consider seriously the multiplicity of distempers , which affect our english ladies , so as that such as were very healthy virgins , become very sickly and infirm wives , and some recover again as soon as they are widows , i cannot but think that many of their diseases may arise from the seed , which their husbands inject , and are fomented so thereby , that all physick becomes unsuccesfull , because they do not totally refrain each other 's bed. i am very confident of this opinion of mine , that it is true : because several have assured me of a great discrepancy they could feel in the seed of their husbands at several times , and that they were variously affected thereupon . i shall evidence this by a notable history of laurentius hofmannus , de usu & abusu medic . chym. pag. 124. et ego ipse nobile par conjugum mirabili morbo afflictum vidi , quos hoc ipso [ sc. mercurio vitae ] feliciter curavi . casum itaque hunc mirabilem , & vix auditum , lubet apponere . quotiescunque maritus rem cum uxore juvencula formosissima habere cuperet , maximè haec trepidabat , concubitúmque illius reformidabat , pr● ptereà quòd plerumque , post seminis masculini , calidissimi , & foetidissimi , effusionem , exanimis in thoro j●ceret : foetor enim seminis adeò abominabilis fuit , ut ferè semper post coitum in animi deliquium inciderit . interim tamen quinque annorum spatio decies concepit , & molas , vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peperit . in consilium itaque vocatus , mercurium vitae marito , uxori verò alia convenientia exhibui remedia ; quibus deus ità benedixerat , ut non tantùm magnâ cum dulcedine nobilissimi conjuges deinceps amoris poma● decerperent , sed etiam anno sequenti parentes audirent . that is , i knew a noble marryed couple troubled with a strange sort of indisposition , whom i successfully cured with mercurius vitae . i shall report the case , it being rare , and unheard of . as often as ever the husband conjugally embraced his wife , which was a person of extraordinary beauty , and youth , she used to shiver , and tremble , and feared nothing so much as his amours : because that for the most part , after that she had received into her womb the seed of her husband , which was very hot , and of a most stinking scent , she used to swoon away : for so abominably noysom was the seed of her husband , that it was no sooner injected , but it caused faintings and swoonings in her : yet did she conceive , and miscarry ten times in the space of five years . being demanded my advice , i gave the husband mercurius vitae , and to the wife other suitable remedies , which had so great an effect , by god's blessing , that the two noble personages did enjoy each other with a great deal of pleasure , and she brought forth a living childe the following year . nor is this repugnant to what we daily observe in uterine injections , which differently operate according to the different ingredients , and qualities . and if it be so herein , how much more ought we to allow the truth hereof in seminal injections , which as they are injected , as are the former , so they are received with much more ardour , the conflux of spirits thither occasioning a greater tension and heat there at that time , so that the contagion pierces deeper ; as infection is sooner caught by the hot , and sweating ( the pores being open ) then by the cold , and chill . lest the women hereby should upbraid the men , and boast the hazards they run by marriage : i must crave leave to tell you , that there is as great variety in their sex , as in ours ; and that every one , that wears a petticoat , is not capable , nor merits the affection of a man , how beautifull soever she may be : nay , commonly it may be said , that the fairest persons ( where a mixture of white and red accomplishes the face ) and the best shaped are fitter for mistresses , then wives , and yield a more pleasing entertainment in a balcony , or coach , then bed. i shall not alledge the reasons , though they are irrefragable : but only add , that it were easie to write an apology for those , who , having marryed such , continue not their affections beyond the first moneth , or year . it is for such that the proverb of hony-moon was designed : and if any can continue a long affection for such , either the man is extraordinary good , or cautious , or the woman extraordinary cunning ; or else he is a novice , who , having no experience of the sex , imagines all to be as his wife is ; as that romane dame supposed all men's breath to stink ( she having never kiss'd any else ) because her husband 's did so . i could here enlarge upon the reasons , why a man may love eagerly and constantly a deformed person to the prejudice of a beauteous lady , and assert the commendation of ronsard to pasithea , or the queen of navarre , whom he represents to be of complexion rather brown , then fair . with which agrees the choice of solomon in the canticles : i am black , but lovely . but i shall only add , that it is an undenyable thing , that there is not that variety , or certainty of accidents , that befall a man , so as to render his embraces distastfull , or fatal ( excepting the french pox ) to any woman , that there is in most women , to render them unfitting , or unworthy the embraces of a man : so great an alteration doth age , child-bearing , sickness , and the like , introduce into the womb , as to its natural make , or original ferment . nor are men either to be separated for the reality of their applications , and professions , before marriage ; because they live not up to them , after it : or to be censured so bitterly for inconstancy ; because they persist not in their first affection , and declarations : for perhaps the beautifull lady is changed ; or did by surrender acquaint him with discoveries he knew not before , nor could make : and therefore , if he proceeded by that rule , which his sight and utmost enquiry gave him , he acted as well as man could ; but he still might be deceived in the conclusion : but that , being deceived , and knowing himself to be so , he should act , and comport himself as if he were not so , is a constraint every man's spirit cannot submit to : and therefore it is to be excused , as well as the principal frailties , whereunto humane nature is lyable . the truth of what hath been already said being granted , i shall suggest two conclusions therefrom , which i think inevitably do follow : viz. 1. if it be true , that the collection and ejection of seed in man , ( or woman ) is a natural act , arising from the blood depurating it self , and the ferment of the generative parts particularly operating upon the blood ; then ought they no more to be forced , then those other natural exreetions are , of snot , spittle , urine , &c. which we do not promote , but when their deficiency is , or may be troublesome : nor do we evacuate , but when we are sensible of their redundancy . 2. if it be true , that there is a great discrepancy not only betwixt the seed of one man and another , but betwixt the seed of the same man at one time , and another ; which is occasioned as well by the food , and physick he takes , as by alteration of age , or sickness : it is then very considerable what provocatives a man takes , or a woman gives to provoke lust , or conjugal desires , lest the nature of the seed be depraved , and the woman incurr harm thereby . it likewise concerns the woman to have a particular regard to her self , that she may with equal ardours meet the embraces of her husband : she must know , that to retain his affection more is necessary then solemn promises , and joyning of hands in the church , or the continuing of her beautifull aspect and shape ; these may acquire , and fix a servant , but not an husband : she must therefore take care , that her blood be every way sufficiently depurated , upon which depends the vigour of body , and minde ; to the effecting whereof more is requisite , then i can now propose . active complexions are only to be preserved what they are : all forcing destroys them . these therefore must have a milde and temperate sort of chocolata ; not enriched with any sort of pepper , but that of iamaica , nor any other spice , then of the west-indy growth . they need not natural heat ; and the aforesaid composition will sufficiently enliven them : but , if any debility of stomach , or accidental weakness befall them , they may vigorate the chocolata with a glass of good canary , or old malaga-sack , when they mill it up ; or take a more rich sort , but yet short of those hot and fiery compounds used by the spaniards . the phlegmatick tempers , if also abounding with ill humours , must take chocolata cautiously at first : premising a purge , and taking some gentle lenitive once in six or eight days ; left it beget too great a fusion of humours in his body : and he must begin with milde chocolata , and after take richer and more effectual compositions . nature endures not violent and suddain changes . i once had a woman came to me to complain of the unactiveness of her husband ; who was , to see to , a lusty able man , but phlegmatick , and of ● muddy aspect , as if cacochymical : she desiring of me some powerfull electuary to add courage and life to him : i prescribed her one agreeable to what vanninus in his dialogues recommends ; not doubting , but he would propose the most effectual in that kind , leachery being his greatest moral vice . he had not taken it many times , but it created in him desires altogether unusual ; but , in the midst of his and his wive's delight , he fell into a suddain fit of an asthma , which had almost ended his days . in reference to both these considerations perhaps it is , that in italy they now condemn chocolata , if we may believe m sinibaldus ; because it was found so provocative , that in a little time it rendred the men impotent : like those plauts , which , if they be suffer'd to run to seed , dy that year . but those italians know no chocolata , but what is of the spanish-make , and abounding with chilli , or red pepper . i shall speak no more concerning the use of chocolata , then as it is prescribed in hypochondriacal melancholy : because that this doth merit a particular enquiry ; for sundry do commend it therein . paulus zacchias in his italian treatise of hypochondriacal melancholy mentions it , and saith , it is not to be allowed in that distemper , but with a great deal of judgment : since he cannot believe , but it is rather hot , then temperate . and piso saith , he knew none in holland to receive hurt by the use of chocolata , but such , as were troubl'd with hypochondriacal heats : from whence we may collect , that , in his judgment , it could not be allowed them . yet i have known learned men here in england prescribe it in the case aforesaid . i shall , with submission to better judgments , solve the question by distinguishing the several compositions of chocolata , and accommodating them to the disease controverted . in hypochondriacal melancholy we are to consider how there are great obstructions in the mesa●aical veins , and chyliferous vessels , so that no other chyle is distributed into the body , but what is apt upon the least occasion to ferment , and boil : which as it is perceivable by the patient in the whole body , so the multitude of arteries in the spleen , and its communion with the stomach ( by what ways i enquire not , but the communion is undeniable ) make it primarily and most evidently perceivable there . there is also a debility of the stomach , which is so relaxed , that it neither digests the food received , well ; nor emits it , being digested : so that it corrupts by long stay in the stomach , ( the body being costive in the mean while ) and grows sowr , and so corrodes the stomach , and whatever is ingested , it presently begets a great conflict in the stomach , attended with acid vomitings oftentimes , and the whole mass of subtle and sharp blood is likewise affected , and put into heat and disorder , especially the hypochondria thereupon . thus they ar● never well , full , nor fasting ; and pine away , complaining of a weak stomach : which the italian and spanish galenists considering , thought the disease to proceed from a cold stomach , and not from an aqua stygia , or the like menstruum in the stomach , made up of the several salts , and tartars , extracted out of the different meats eaten , and a redundant sharpe liquour issuing out of the capillary arteries , and coats of the stomach , into the stomach : for as the blood is in such very serous and sharpe , so is the humour transuding into the stomach heigthened in its acrimony , and augmented in its quantity beyond measure . now , the question is to be understood , praemissis generalibus , general purgings being d●ely premised , and opening physick administred . and in this case i answer , that hot-spiced chocolata ( and especially what hath black , long , or red pepper in it , whose nature it is to create an acrimony , as well as to heat the blood ) cannot agree with the stomach ; because they will more heat and inflame the blood , then is tolerable : and this is confirm'd by the experience of piso. but , as for milde and temperate chocolata , i doubt not , but such a sort might be made , as would exactly suit the disease , and contribute much to the recovery , being given in water , not mix'd with milk , or eggs ; but given the spanish and indian fashion : and the water it self being such a water , as will not stay in the stomach , but pass immediatly into the blood , and void it self by vrine . to confirm my opinion , do but consider the nature of the cacao-nut , and paste : it is very nourishing , it allays vapours and ebullitions of the blood ; it is not apt to sowre ( as gruels , and broths of meat , or china-root instantly will ) and it keepeth the body soluble , and moderately purges by vrine . all which indications we are to aim at in the cure of this disease . it also corroborateth the stomach by its adstriction , it allayeth the sowr humour by its unctuousness ( which floats not on the top , but accurately commixes with the liquour ) and its bitterishness , then which there is not any thing else more gratefull to a weak stomach . add to these considerations , that chocolata is a liquour , and that the cure of hypochondriacks depends upon humectation ( seeing that melancholici , si bene humectantur , bene curantur ) and there is not any thing can occasion a scruple , but the addition of sugar : which how far it may agree , is to be determined by experience , since otherwise it will be condemned by reason . but , should it not agree , the cacao-paste may be prepared for persons deeply hypochondriacal without sugar , or spice , except a few anise-seeds , and powder of santals , or sassafras , and dissolved , upon occasion , together with some bez●ar , or any other stomachical preparation of antimony , or whatever will saturate that esurive humour upon the stomach , and open obstructions . being thus given , i cannot imagine , but it must be a very effectual contrivance for the desperate hypochondriacks , being regulated by a diligent physician , and an observant patient : without which it is impossible to effect that cure ; which is tedious , and requires circumspection , and variety of remedies to carry it on . as for those , who are afflicted with that distemper , i suppose a milde sort o● chocolata , with a mixture of spice , and sugar , may agree very well . the other virtues of chocolata in hysterical fits , and asthmas , or consumptions , i i have not time to in●ist on : from what i have said , and shall say about the way of using chocolata , any physician will be able to collect how it is , or may be used in such like cases . concerning the variety of ingredients in chocolata , and the several frauds in making it up , i have already spoken so much , as i need not to enlarge again : only as to the addition of achiote , i hear the use of it is condemned by one of our most learned physicians , as being prejudicial to the head. i could never yet hear what motives he had for that opinion of his : for in all the indian writers i do not remember any such thing ; i have already represented their testimony , and that is the voice of experience in comprobation of the use of it . i never found any inconvenience by the use of achiote ( which is an ingredient in my ordinary and royal chocolata ) nor do i hear of any , that does . i would rather adventure to recommend the use of achiote , since , without heating , it doth powerfully attenuate all gross humours , ( and the blood of us northern people is more gross , and less fusile , then that of the spaniards , or indians , and we are prone to coughs , stoppings of the chest , and asthmas , by reason of our gross feeding , and the thickness of the blood , whereby it is apt to obstruct the lungs ) and since it doth make the chocolata to agree better with the stomach , then otherwise it would . i have faithfully declared already the judgment of several writers concerning achiote . it is generally put into chocolata by the indians , and spaniards , and portugheses ; and that none should ever observe in it a particular repugnancy to the brain , or a quality , that might give ground for such a surmise ( which i cannot by my taste ) is very strange : and how probable the thing is , let others judge . since the writing of the aforesaid passage i have received the complaints of a fair lady , who thinks , that taking of my common chocolata with achiote in it , the head-ach ( whereunto she is naturally , as well as by her condition of being with childe , prone ) is encreased ; and that it doth create a more then usual heat in her face , and body ; and indeed i my self , taking for sundry days of the same chocolata , found , that , taken in paste , or liquour , it did cause in my stomach and body a greater and particular heat , which before i never felt . to finde out the cause of this accident , i examined the person , that made it up , and i found , he had varyed his achiote , and used a new parcel , ( which to me seemed not so good ) which in the same weight did yield a deeper colour by farr , and occasioned , as i thought , the aforesaid case , w●ich did not happen when i used another sort , which to me seemed more pure , then the last used . but i did further observe , that the chocolata complained of did promote expectoration beyond any other , i ever took to eat , or drank : so that i conceive , in case of asthmas , and stuffings from phlegm , such a sort of chocolata might agree well . as to the heat of achiote it self , i could not perceive any more in the last , then in the other ; nay , i must profess , i think , that five grains of the said achiote , taken by it self , did not so much heat me , ( nay , it did not cause in me any sense of heat ) as did half a dram of chocolata-paste already mentioned : yet in sixteen ounces thereof there was but one scruple . and this consideration puts me in mind of the indian remark , that achiote ( though destitute almost of taste , and smell ) doth amend the taste , and smell , ( which it may do , as well as the heat ) of the other ingredients . and though it be not sensibly hot , yet by its penetrancy , and the great attenuating faculty it hath , it may occasion some distempers in the head , where the blood is already so attenuated , that it admits no further rare faction without indisposing the head , which ( according to mechanical philosophy ) must needs receive a greater afflux of blood , the thinner it is . in the choice of achiote i can only give this rule , that it be solid , not soft , rather pale-red , then deep , free from seeds , or greenish hulls within ; and not musty . as to the quantity to be put in , i finde it is impossible to determine the proportion , by reason of the variety of achiote : but take the indian rule , recorded in ledesma , to put in as much , as will colour it : ( and that not deeply ) and adhere not to what was prescribed me , viz. half a dram in each pound : which though it proved well in the first essay i made for his majesty , the achiote being singular ; it hath since displeased me . the way , in which i choose to take chocolata , is sometimes to mix two parts of water with one of milk , and to dissolve the chocolate-paste therein with an egg : for i care not for milk alone . but most usually i take three quarters of a pint of good [ conduit ] water well-boil'd , and dissolve in it ( stirring it frequently with a spoon ) one ounce of chocolata , and two ounces of fine sugar : having let it stand before a moderate fire to dissolve , when it is so dissolved , as that the liquour seems very fatty with a yellow fat , and that there sticks to the spoon an undescribable unctuousness , or oyliness , ( however that the chocolata be not half dissolved , but that a great part of it still swim in great stakes , and small parcels , up and down ) i proceed to mill it very well , and then set it to the fire again to dissolve more perfectly : and having , let it stand a good while ( even till it be ready to boil , of near upon it ) i mill it once more with great diligence : and then either drink it alone ( which is the common indian and spanish way ) or putting in one egg ( white and yolk ) without ever beating it before breaking it into the water , and immediatly milling it very hard , sometimes playing the molinet ( and that most , at first especially , to break the egg , and hinder its curdling ) on the top of the water , and sometimes at the bottom . and i have observed , that by this course the chocolata ( when taken without an egg ) becomes better tasted then otherwise it would : and , if an egg be put in , the chocolata is farr better dissolved , and swims with a greater oyl or fat on the top , then if the egg were put in sooner , and never so long milled . nor doth the egg harden , or curdle , if dropped in whole without beating , but dissolve better ( if nimbly milled , and that towards the top , where the egg floats at first ) then if it were beaten much , and put in afterwards by little and little . i prepare no more at once , then i drink that time : not that i feel any offensiveness in what hath been once heated , and cold , before it be heated again for me : but because i finde an observable difference betwixt fresh and old chocolata-liquour : the spice evaporating their more subtile parts . but the discrepancy is not such , as is in pottage , or gruel , &c. twice heated : nor do i know what reason the spaniards have to prohibite so severely the use of chocolata twice heated . i drink it moderately hot , and dip a piece of diet-bread , n or wig , &c. in it . i drink it without proportion , but commonly half a pint , or more : and this i do twice or thrice in a day ( nay , before diner ) with a sensible refreshment ; finding it to ke●p my body soluble enough , as i could wish ; though otherwise i am inclined to costiveness . sometimes i put in a spoonful of orange flower-water ; which gives it a most excellent taste , if the water be good : sometimes ( if i am faint with business ) i put in a glass of good canary , or malaga-sack : in which i imitate o the antient romans , who did usually mix their old and well-bodyed wines with hot water , which in several houses , call'd thermopolia , was kept always ready for entertainment . and this practise of theirs is asserted by campanella for the most wholesom way of drinking wine . and costaeus p tells us , that for a weak stomach there is not any thing more profitable , then a draught of hot wine ; which i have known experimented in england with good success , not only in the case mentioned , but in sundry atrophies , and consumptions . and vallesius q tells us , that , however it be proverbially said , that wine is the old man's milk , yet is it indigestible , if it be not first heated . i have sometimes aromatised it with a few sassafrass chips , not unpleasingly . they , who would put in emulsions , or the like , must dissolve , and mix the chocolata with less water , and having mill'd it well , then put in the emulsion , &c. and mill it again . as to the times , whereat i take it ; i observe none particularly , besides the taking of it in a morning , and evening : sometimes sooner , sometimes later , as occasion permits . nor do i regard the quantity , taking frequently a pint , but usually above half a pint : eating tosted wig , or diet-bread often with it . what it may do to others , i know not ; but i never found my sleep retarded , or distu●bed by it : it is possible , some may finde it otherwise ; for , if sleep be a relaxation of the nerves , and vacation from sense thorough wearisomness of the organs , what corroborates nature , and dispells wearisomness , may ( without its disparagement ) retard sleep . i have often wonder'd to hear upon how inconsiderable causes many complain ; though they have no occasion to sleep : yet , if they sleep not at certain times , they entertain strange thoughts of their danger of sickness , and condemn the occasion of it presently . so , if they eat not flesh at least once or twice a day , they repute their stomach to be lost , and imagine they must dy : not regarding , that the end of food is to repair the defects of nature , and prevent its decay for the future : and , when we enjoy these ends , we are not to be solicitous of any particular means further to procure what we already possess . to eat , to drink , to sleep , were there no need thereof , were folly : and he makes reason submit to custom , or conceit , who eats , drinks , or sleeps , when he is sensible , there is no necessity of it ; and incurs by a superfluity dangers , he would avoid . nizolius , the great ciceronian , slept not of ten years : others have watched longer ( as you may read in r heurnius ) without prejudice . several have never drunk , and others have , to avoid a dropsie , or the like , for a long time refrain'd all drink ; and done as well , or better then others : and the case of rabbets , sheep , and sundry birds , evidence the possibility of the antient and modern relations in this case . as for eating , except the maid of confolans ( recited by citesius ) i can hardly credit any , that have subsisted without that : but without doubt a greater temperance might be practised therein , then is used . and , upon the aforementioned account , some cry out upon chocolata , as if it destroyed their sleep ; others , that , taking it , they can eat no diner after it , it preventing their appetite thereunto : but , would these people be pleased to think , that chocolata feeds more then their diner , of the loss of which they complain , and that they are in no danger of dying by hunger , whilest they f●ed hereon , the formality of eating a se● meal would not be insisted on . i must profess , i never could observe in my self any alteration of my stomach by drinking chocolata in a morning : and , if any have , it is because their stomachs are weak , and that their diner would not digest well with them , if they had it . is it not sufficient , that chocolata offends not their stomach ? and that their blood depurates it self ( upon the taking thereof ) by sweat , vrine , stool , and expectoration ? let them but consider , how apt meat is to corrupt on the stomach ; how little it agrees with a weak stomach ; and how binding its remanency , or earthy parts ( as they call them ) are : since that in fluxes it is recommended f for an excellent remedy to give the reliques of the meat , out of which all the strength is boil'd or pressed in jellies and cullices : ) and let them see how much they are hurt by being put by such a meal . i shall conclude with this advise ; that however the chocolata be good ; and that such , as stand i● need of quick refection , are to be fed with drinks ; which yield a more speedy nourishment , then others : yet is there caution to be used in the taking even of the best : for thus my spaniard directs , whose prescript agrees with my chocolata royal almost . in quantitate hujus potionis sumendae , & vicibus numero repeti●is , est prudens certè cautio adhibenda : nam , si plus justo , & pluries quàm calor stomachi ferat , ingeratur , tunc adhuc robusto stomacho multum negotii facessit , & vices repetitae onera sunt plenis , & maximè quando non ad tollendam , sed ad irritandam famem queritur ; indè enim pallor , & nervorum cruditate madentium tremor accidit , & miserabilis ex cruditate macies ; indè distentus venter , & decolor vultus ; aliquando vertigines , & capitis dolores , & fortè longa febris , & insuperabiles varicosae obstructiones , unde hypochondriaca melancholia , & ex varia multiplicíque cruditate affectus planè contrarii : iis tamen malis minùs erunt obnoxii , qui se non tantis deliciis solverint ; qui sibi prudenter temperantes imperabunt , & corpora opere & vero labore exercebunt : hos enim innoxiè non tant●m chocolate , sed cibus excipiet , qui non nisi esurienti potest plac●re . necesse est enim , ut ex discordi cibo morbi contrarii etiam oriantur : & haec nobis hodiè unica videtur ratio , quare in hypochondriaca melancholia tam confusae & contraria , & longè inter se dissimilia observentur accidentia ; & in plerisque febribus ex contrariis naturae partibus , quae in eandem compulsa redundant . et hanc propter rationem apud aliquos reor chocolate noxii opinionem subîisse ; non quòd il●ud sui ratione mereatur : quinimò , si temperatâ frugalitate adsumatur , magnas utilitates omnes expertum iri , nobis est indubitata fides ; neque displicet , subhac frugalitate , post pran●ium & coenam ( maximè moderata ) parùm de chocolate pitissare ; ut utroque calore suam digestionem perficiat stomachus , & indè facultates roborentur , ac , plerisque impedientibus ablatis , meliùs perficiatur coctio : quod te experientia feliciùs docebit , & moderatio usum securiorem faciet . ( that is , ) there ought to be a great caution , and prudence , used in the number , and quantity of those draughts , we take of chocolatd ; for , if it be taken in too large a quantity , or too frequently , so as nature cannot overcome it , it becomes troublesome even to the most strong stomachs , and often usage makes it a burthen , especially , if it be taken rather for wantonness , then necessity , to cause , and not allay hunger : for from this cause happens paleness , tremblings , and palsies of t●e mo●stened nerves , and a miserable leaness occasioned by crudities ; the belly is distended ; the countenance is discoloured ; sometimes giddiness , and other aches of the head , and chronical agues , and fevers , and insuperable obstructions in the varices , as also hypochondriacal melancholy , and diseases of a different nature springing of several crudities : but such are least obnoxious to these distempers , as do not debilitate themselves with luxury , who command their appetite , and keep their bodies in much exercise ; for these may take not only chocolata , but other sustenance at any time without danger : no food being good upon a full stomach ; for from a repugnancy in the meats ariseth a repugnancy and difference of diseases : which is in my judgment the reason , why in hypochondriacal melancholy there is observed such a variety of accidents , as also in many fevers , by reason of the several heterogeneous parts commixing occasionally together . and i suppose , that the aforesaid cause moved many to imagine chocolata to be somewhat hurtfull ; not that it really deserved that imputation : for , if it be moderately used , it is my assured perswasion , that all will finde great benefit thereby . nor am i against it in them , that practise such moderation , if they take it after t diner , or supper ( both of them being moderate ) that so nature , having her own heat augmented by the accessional of chocolate , may better concoct , and strengthen the faculties , and dissipate what might impede digestion● . and this experience will teach : and it is no less true , that it is moderation , that makes it safe to take chocolata . i shall conclude this discourse with the judgment of the learned roblez , physician in peru , which is as follows . the judgment of roblez a licentiate physician in peru concerning cacao , and chocolata . el cacao es frio , y seco , de su templansa : y per esto tienen partes astringentes , con que opila . esta oi el mas valido de quantas mercadurias oi : y esta tan adelante , que ai majorasgos fundados sobre sus heredades , de a dies , y dose mil ducados de orenta . es el cacao summamenta alimentoso , por don de hace dudar de su templansa . el aceito , que sale del , quando se cuesse , es blanco , y granujado , que mas pareoer manteca . sacasse tostandole en casuela de barro , y no es bueno en metal . muelesse el cacao en la piedra , y con mano de piedra , estando calientes ambos , y echa masa , se pone en puchero al fuego , en las brazas , y en tomando calor sale encima la manteca , y aceite mas rubio que la llama , y de s●mis●o sabor : ass● mismo se tuesta para hacer la bebida . pero quando le uan moliendo , o passiando por la●piedra , le mesclan , anis , canela , y algun clavo ; echando a tres libras de cacao , dos onsas de anis , una de canela , y media de clavo , con esto , passan por la piedra dos o tres vezes , y luego le echan en caxitas , ole hacer paneci●los de a onsa , que as lo que adellevar una xicara de bebida : este es el chocolate regalada , y mas sano , y el , que bebe la gente regalada : otros le echan harina de mais , y en la nueva espanna viscocho , molido , pero esto de mas de hacer , el chocolate de poca dura , es enfermo , por que la harina , que le echan , no cosida , aun que va tostada es de mal mantenemiento , y causa opilaciones , y otros mil achaques : tanbien le mesclan en otras partes con achiote , por ser a proposito para la orina : el modo de hacer la bebida , es este . lo cuessen ●esaziendo la pasta en proportionada cantit●d de agua , poco mas de medio quartillo , y dos onsas de asucar , una de chocolate , y cuesse en una olleta uno o dos hervores al fuego , y le dan con un molinillo hasta llevantar espuma , y quanto caliente se puede se bebe ; el que se bebe desta manera , se tiene por mas sano : no soi de parecer , se t●me muchas vezes , por que inquieta el cossimiento , y carga el estomago de muchas crudesas . el cacao comido confitado , por la tarde quieta el suenno des tod● la n●che . solo es bueno para los soldados , qu● estan de posta . la mantera del cacao es d● grande provecho , para las inflammaciones , y para qual quiera fuegos , y quemaduras ; y sobre todo , para el tiempo de las virvelas , y serampion , y ampollas , y llagas , securan untandose a menudo , con a quel aceite , para el principio , aumento , estado de la erysipela : es gran sedante , y el major anodino para el dolor , que causan sus costras , y postillas : para los labios abiertos , y grietas de las manos , y en elrostro : para las enzias , que manan sangre con dolor , se les quita effectos bien contrarios , pero mejor conocidos por la experientia . that is in english as follows . the cacao-nut is cold and dry in its temperament : and thereby it hath parts adstringent , wherewith it obstructs . it is at this day the most rich merchandize in the indies : and it is of so high an esteem , that they settle by right of primogeniture on their eldest sons farms of cacao , which yield annually twelve thousand duckets . the cacaonut is exceeding nourishing , which makes people doubt concerning its particular temperament . the a oyl , that comes from it , when it is boil'd , is white , and imbodies into b grains , which seems rather to be a sort of butter : it is to be extracted by roasting in a large earthen pot [ such as we bake meat in ] and it doth not well in a brass vessel . the nut is grinded in a stone-mortar , with a stone pestel , c both of them being hot ; and , being made into a paste , it is set on a charcoal-fire● in a pipkin , and , as it heats , there rises up to the top the butter , d and an oyl more red then the flame or fire [ of charcoal ; ] both having but one taste . in like manner it is roasted to make the drink . and , as they grinde , or beat it up in a mortar , they mix with the paste some anise-seeds , cinnamom , and a few cloves ; adding to three pounds of cacao two ounces of anise-seeds , one of cinnamom , and half an ounce of cloves : with which they grind it on the stone two or three times : and then they put it into little boxes , or they make little cakes of one ounce-weight , which is the proportion of chocolata to make one draught . this is the royal chocolata , being the best , and most wholesom , and which is drunk by the nobility , and persons of the best rank . others mix with it the flower of maiz : and in new-spain they mix therewith the fine powder of bisket-bread : but this sort of chocolata la●ts not long to keep , is not good , but weak ; because the flower of maiz , which they put in , is not boil'd , and prepared ; and though the maiz be prepared by roasting , yet it yields but bad nourishment , it begets obstructions , and a thousand aches , and distempers . in other parts they mix with the cacao-paste some achiote , which serves to provoke e urine . and the way of making their chocolata-drink is this . they scrape the cacao-paste , and dissolve it in a proportionate quantity of water , to a little more then half a pint of water they put in two ounces of sugar , and one of the paste of cacao , and they let it boil in a pot one or two woulms over the fire , and then they mill it , till it rise with a large froth ; they drink it as hot , as they can possible : and they , that drink it so , think it to be most wholesom . and i am of the opinion , that it ought not to be drunk too often : because it disturbs f concoction , and loads the stomach with many crudities . the cacao-nut being made into confects , [ as almond-confects are made ] being eaten at night , makes men to wake all night-long : and is therefore good for souldiers , that are upon the guard. the cacao-butter is excellently usefull in case of inflammations , and any scalds , or burns ; and especially in the small-pox , and pustulous tumours , and eruptions from heat , and bruises : they are cured by anointing therewith in the beginning , encrease , state , or declination of the erysipelas , or st. antonie's-fire . it is a great cooler , and allayer of pains created by crusts , or scars upon sores , and pimples , and in chopped lips , and hands , and face , and gums , which bleed , and are dolorous . it produceth effects very various , and contrary one to another , which are best known by experience . an account of the distillation of the cacao-nut perform'd by mr. le febure . we took eight ounces of the cacao-nut , and , without hulling them , beat them to a gross powder , and put them in a retort : we found the body so fix'd , that with an ordinary fire there came nothing over , but a white liquour in a very small quantity , so clear as water : which we suppose to be the phlegm . then we encreased the fire to such an heat , as if we had been to draw spirit of vitriol : then there came over ( within the space of seventeen hours operation ) first a spirit , that was as white as milk , in vapours ; and , whereas all other spirits usually ascend in the recipient , these did descend , and fall to the bottom : and after that ( but with a great reverberating fire ; such as he never put to any vegetable ) there came over the oyl , which was red as blood , but clear ; resembling any tincture for clearness : after it was cold , it became thick , like to the oyl or butter of wax for consistence . the caput mortuum weighed one ounce , and seven drams ; of the spirit there was about two ounces : and the remainder oyl , three ounces and an half ; besides what was lost in filtrating , and other contingencies ▪ upon separation , the spirit was as red as blood , like to any exquisite tincture of santals ; however it were white in the first distilling : which is to be attributed to its being commix'd in the distilling with the subsequent oyl . the spirit was not very hot , but exceeding penetrative , and not unpleasant as to smell , or taste , as other spirits drawn from blood , or flesh , are . but , however it had not any empyreuma , nor had that odiousness , which attends spirits drawn from flesh , yet had it an evident affinity ( but with a peculiar in mildness ) with flesh . the oyl was not very unpleasant , but miraculously piercing , ( the volatile salt , of which there was a great quantity , being unseparated ) and had an unexpressible aromaticalness upon the tongue ; and seem'd very much to delight and refresh the heart , and stomach : but with a great resemblance still of flesh . the caput mortuum had no taste at all , was exceeding light , and carryed with it in smell testimonies of an affinity with fat flesh , when broiled . we had not time to pursue a more accurate enquiry into the several liquours , and parts , into which the first appearances of this distillation might be further resolved : but that there may be a very great exercise for further curiosity in the distilling of this nut appears hence , that the spirit in a short space became not only turbid , but sowr , and manifested it self to contain a vinegar : which is not yet examined ; but the honourable robert boyl esq hath promised to make some essays about it . i would not have any offended at the novelty of finding a vinegar in the cacao ; for it is an acid ferment , that we owe our digestion to : and we ought rather to admire the nature of this nut , which includes in it self not only principles for nourishment , and food , but even of concoction : and from hence we may observe , what it is , that makes it so agreable to all , even to the weakest natures . besides mr. boyle told me of several oyls , he observed in it upon distillation , the several effects and differences whereof are not yet , through want of time , discovered . i have nothing more to add now , being just ready to go on ship-board ; but that i have since met with a person , whose long converse and curiosity in spain have enabled him to judge of chocolata : he informed me of many things so , as to satisfie me , that the course i make chocolata by , is exact : and that , what i have taught mortimer to make , hotter then my ordinary way , is the true chocolata of guaxaca , and most celebrated in the spanish court. and i am to acquaint the nation with a piece of his intelligence , which was my own conjecture before , that to make chocolata into sweet-meats , and almonds , it is this chocolata of guaxaca ( a present of which i designed for her majesty , had she arrived before my departure , and some whereof is in the hands of the lady wood ) wherewith the said confects are to be made : for milde chocolata will grow insipid upon so great a commixture of sugar . any one may have it at mortimer's made for them , if they be-speak it by the name of the queen 's chocolata , as the other bears the name of chocolata-royal , which had his majestie 's approbation . there is a sort of chocolata made by sir h. bennet , which , if i have seen the right prescript , is conformable to what i understand to be the practise of the spanish court : yet differs a little from mine , and hath a greater proportion of red pepper , then i allow english-men , however it may suit with the female sex pretty well . it hath musk in it in as great a quantity , as i put amber-grise in mine : but i think musk not so healthfull in many ; for it begers a great fusion and fermentation in the blood , so as that it causeth it to boil , and colour the face : besides that a little musk chewed is observed to make wounds to bleed ; with many other instances , which i have not time to recount , but shall in the next edition ; with experiments of my own about it in the making of a sort of pies with almonds , pistachias , marrow , &c. and musk sometimes , sometimes amber-grise ▪ which as it is a dish i love sometimes , so was i pleased with several observations i made by putting musk and amber-grise in it . if any will have any made with musk , and those other ingredients , which a little diversifie it from my chocolata-royal , or that , which i call the queen 's chocolata , i have told mortimer the way : so as they may have it either milde , or as hot as sir h. b. makes it . the gentleman further informed me , that he found chocolata to keep his body soluble ( as did my much honoured and learned friend dr. quatremaine , physician-in-ordinary to his majesty : ) and if it ever fail'd to do so , he then took it in bed , half an hour before he rose , and it never fail'd to give him a s●ool , as soon as he was up . he told me , he used to put butter in his : and he told me , that they used to take it in spain after they have taken a little conserve , bisket , or a salt bit in a morning . he further told me upon his experience , that , being desperately vex'd with the piles , he took the butter of cacao ( which is the fat i mention , that arises from digesting the cacao's simple paste in water , till the fat be drawn out ) and melted it , and anointed therewith , and it did not only cure him presently , but that he never had them since . i have not time to enlarge on the several experiments i have since had account of : but i have many more rea●ons to recommend it in case of hypocho●driacal melancholy . but i must conclude , adding the discourse of st. austin , which i hinted at before , because it contains some observations not ordinary in physick . the judgment of st. austin in his book of the city of god : which was too large to be inserted before , pag. 136. lib. 14. ch. 23. this co●tention , fight , and altercation of lust , and will , this need of lust to the sufficiency of the will , had not been laid upon the wedlock in paradise , but that disobedience should be the plague to the sin of disobedience : otherwise those members had obeyed the will , as well as the rest . the seed of generation should have been sown in the vessel , as corn is now in the field . what i would say more in this kind , modesty bids me forbear a little , and first ask pardon of chaste ears . i need not do it , but might proceed in any discourse pertinent to this theme , freely , and without fear to be obscene , or imputation of impurity to the words , being as honesty spoken of these , as others are of any other bodily members . therefore he , that readeth this with unchaste suggestions , let him accuse his own guilt , not the nature of the question . — ibid. ch. 24. man therefore should have sown the seed , and woman have received it , as need required , without all lust , and as their wills desired : for , as now we are , our articulate members do not only obey our will , our hands , or fe●t , or so ; but even those also , that we move but by small sinews , and tendons , we contract , and turn them as we list : as you see in the voluntary motions of the mouth , and face . and the lungs , the softest of all the entrails , except the marrow , and therefore placed in the arches of the breast , far more safely to take in and give out the breath , and to proportionate the voice , do serve a man's will entirely , like a pair of smith's or organ's bellows , to breathe , to speak , to cry , or to sing . i omit , that it is natural in some creatures , if they feel any thing bi●e them , to move the sk●● ther● ▪ where i● bites , and no where el●e ; shaking of not only flies , but even d●rts , or shafts , by this motion . man canno● do this : what then ? could not god give it unto what creatures he listed ? even so might man have had the obedience of his lower parts , which his own disobedience debarred . for god could easily have made him with all his members subjected to his will , even that , which now is not moved , but by lust : for we see some mens natures far different from other-some ; acting those things strangely with their bodies , which others cannot do , nor ha●dly will believe . there are , that can move their ears , one , or both , as they please . there are , that can move all their hair towards their forehead , and back again , and never move their heads . there are , that can swallow you twenty things whole , and , contracting but their guts a little , give you every thing up as whole , as if they had put it into a bagg . there are , that can counterfeit the voices of birds , and other men , so cunningly , that , unless you see them , you cannot discern them for your hearts . there are , that can break wind backward so arti●icially , a that you would think they sung . i have seen one sweat b when he listed : and it is sure , that some can weep when they list , and shed tears plentifully . but it is wonderfull , tha● divers of the brethren tryed of late in a priest call'd restitutus , of the village of calaman , who , when he pleased ( and they requested him to shew them this rare experiment ) at the feining of a lamentable sound drew himself into such an extafie , that he lay as dead , senseless of all punishing , pricking , nay even of burning , but that he felt it sore after his waking . and this rapture was found to be true , and not counterfeit in him , in that he lay still without any breathing : y●t he said afterwards , that , if one spake aloud , he thought he heard him , as if he were afar of . seeing therefore that , in this frail state of ours , the body serveth the will in such extraordinary effects ; why should we not believe , that , before his disobedience , the first man might have had his means , and members of generation , without lust ? but he , taking delight in himself , was left by god unro himself , because he would not obey god. and this proves his misery the plainer ▪ in that he cannot live , as he would . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a61881-e1000 eccles. ch . 2. v. 24. ch . 3. v. 1● , 22. ch . 5. v. 17. ch . 8. v. 15. a it is the same , that is used in mexico and brought from guaxaca to the spanish court , and now used there : it varies in nothing , but what is more peculiar to the spanish , then english gust . i call it chocolata-royal , because the spaniards do so , whom i follow ; and it is usual with that nation , to express an excellent manjar by the title of royal. notes for div a61881-e3610 a hernandez herb . mexic . l. ● c. 46. gul. piso in mantiss . aromat . c. 17. b gage's survey of the west-indies , c. 16. it is called chicolate in iaques amproux , of the antilles , c. 16. and succolata , and chuculate by schroder . pharmac . l. 4. c acosta histor. nat . & moral . indiar . l. 4. c. 22 e hernandez l 2. c. 4. f hernandez l. 3. c. 41. l. 5. c. 13. g hernandez . l. 5. c. 41. h gul. piso in mantiss . aromat . c. 17. i gage c. 16. piso in mantissa aromat . c. 17. k as hernandez , piso , zacchias , severinus , & others . notes for div a61881-e5110 a chap. 91. b hernandez l. 3. c. 46. c i know not what this pocholt should be , if it be not maiz ( there being as great variety of names , as kingdomes in the indies ) or paniso : both which i find to have been put into the chocolata of old . d benzonus l. 2. e histor. ind. l. 4. c. 22. mr. gage , speaking of the ordinary indians of guatemala , saith ( ch . 19. ) that they drink of their poor simple chocolatte , without sugar , or any compounds , or of atolle , untill their bellies be ready to burst . and in the same chapter , a little before , he says , they call ●heir neighbours to chocolatte , and finish an house without any charges , more then of help them , which they minister in great cups of above a pint , not putting in any costly materials , as do the spaniards , but only a little anise-seed , and chile , or indian pepper : or else they half fill the cup with atolle , and pour thereon as much chocolatte , as will fill the cup , and colour it . f hernan . l. 2. g gage calls them orejuelas h id. l. 2. c. 17. i id. l. 3. c. 41. k id. l. 5. c. 13. l id l. 5. c. 41. m id. i 3. c. 46. n gage c. 16● o gage c. 16. piso in mant. ar. c. 17. p piso in mant. aromat . c. 17. q they are but pitifully prepared , for they cannot afford to pick or hull their nuts , nor to searce them : for they sell it in the chocolata-seller for two shillings , or half a crown , each pound ; the dutch for eighteen , nay twelve pence : nor do they know the difference betwixt one sort of nut , and another . it doth also work blacker on an iron-table : but who prefers a stone-rowle● , before an iron one , must never have undergone the trouble of working with the former : which is much greater then with an iron one ; as far as i could see : nor was the chocolata better . notes for div a61881-e8460 a by antoniu herrera . b piso , and hernandez . c benzonus compares them to cucumbers for size : fructus amygdalorum speciem referens , siliquis quibusdam veluti cu●urbitis includitur , crassitudine & latitudine cucumeris . d ludovicus lopes t. 2. instruct . consc . c. 112. calls it checa and ●iso in latine cacacius . benzonus saith , it is usually call'd by the indians cacauate . e this is the comparison used by piso , but the resemblance is not very great , especially in some sorts of nuts . f hernandez , herb. mexic . lib. 3. c. 46. g dr. iuanes de barrios de chocolata . h i. de lae● hist. ind. occid . l. 7. c. 2. i gage survey of the west-indies c. 16. here i desire to observe , that , though i have my self many times eaten great quantities of the cacao nuts unreduced to paste ( as also of the simple●nd ●nd compound paste ) yet did i never find 〈◊〉 stomach to be fill'd by them ( as i●●hey had dissolved instantly therein ) but ●ather satiated , though not cloy'd ; which happens not in other solid food taken so : nor could i ever perceive they did that way much nourish me ; though i did eat at one time beyond any proportion , that i drank at another ; and yet was fed and sensibly refreshed by the latter course . k hernandez i. 3. c. 46. gul. piso in mant. arom . cap. 18. l hernandez ibid. m gage surv. c. 16. n piso in mant. ar. c. 18. & anton. de herrera cap. 10. hist. ind. occid . o de plant . ind. occid . c. 54. p hernandez lib. 3. cap. 46. acutâ ●gritudine laborantibus exhiberi solet ex ●o semine parata potio , ●ui nihil praetereà commixtum sit , contemperando aestui , & fervori placando , & eis , quos calida intemperies hepatis , al●eriúsve partis vexat . benzonus lib. 2. ex nucleo cacao fiunt sorbitiunculae refrigeranies : eam ob causam adeò expetitae , ut cum iis quidvis vel pretio , vel usu earum commutent . jo. de laet lib. 6. cap. 2. h●●t . ind occid . simplex enim potio ( sc. fructus cacao ) refrigerat , & nutrit insigni●er . q dr. iuanes de cardenas lib. 7. de propr . chocolatis . r hernan herb. mexic . l 3. c. 46 and io. de laet hist. ind. occid . l. 6. c. 2. saith of it out of fr. ximenes , cacao fructus teneri sunt nutrimenti , saporis inter dulcem & amarum medii , temperie nonnihil frigidâ & humidâ . s i have eaten and used as good nuts of the growth of iamaica , as any , i have yet met with . s de vit and● error . t acosta hist. ind. l. 4. c. 20. u piso hist. nat. & med. l. 6. c. 15. ex ximene . x hernandez . l. 5. c. 3. x hernandez . l. 5. c. 3. y acosta l. 4. c. 20. piso ex ximene l. 6. c. 51. z acosta ubi suprá . a piso ubi suprá . b mr. sig●n's descript. of barbadas p. 79. c chap. 54. d histor. nat. ind. l. 7. c. 7. e acosta ubi suprá . f bontas c. 5. de cons. valet . in ind. g acosta ubi suprá . h ubi suprá . i see acosta , hernandez , piso , ubi suprá . k ferdinandez l. 1. sect . 1. c. 14. vide & herbar . mexican . l. 2. c. 5. de xoc●-xochitl seu pipere tabasc . lib. 5. cap. 3. l vide pison ▪ in mantiss . ar●mat . c. 9. m hernand●z h●rb . mexic . l. 2. ● . 15. n p● so in ma●ti●s . aromat . c. 18. o her●andez , & piso , ubi suprá . p the spaniards put it into their p●armicae , or sneezing-powders , avowing it to corroborate the br●in infinitely : as i am ascertained by such , as have seen this practise in spain , and the indies . q hernandez . herb. mexic . l. 3. c. 41. r piso in mar. c. 18. s when i am in iamaica , i shall inform my self of the different operation of achiote , according as it is differently made : of which they , who bring it , or sell it , can give no account . t piso ubi suprá . urucu , sive achiote efficit , nè chocolate , quantâvis quantitate hausta , noceat : illius quippe ope facilè digeritur sine ulla cruditate . ità fr. ximenes a●pud burggravium in hist. bras . l 2. c. 3. u piso hist. utr . ind. l. 4. c. 14. x piso in mant. aromat . c. 18. fructuum grana rubri frigida sunt & sicca cum modica adstrictione : ex quibus placentulas efformant , quae non solùm medicamentis contra quosvis sanguinis fluxus inordina●os , sed & cibariis immiscentur , gratúmque simul saporem & colorem iis suppeditant . inprimis autem omnia haec beneficia praestant confectioni nostrae chocolatae , si certâ quantitate addentur ; tutiùs enim tunc bibitur , & citra satietatis & nauseae incommodum : adde , quòd sanguinem magis purificet , & viscera corroboret . y see pison . histor. ind. utr . l. 4. c. 14. lib. 5. c. 3. z yet it hath so violent a pi●rcing on the tongue , that the impression cea●eth not of a long time after . a one sayes of him in this case , falsâ indorum traditione errat , non exacto veritatis examine . b mr. gage's surv. c. 16. mr. gage in another place speaks thus of achiote . in nixapa , within the country of guaxa●a grow many trees of cacao , and achiote : whereof is made the chocolatte , and is a commodity of much trading in those parts ; though our english and the hollanders make little of it when they take a prize of it at sea , as not knowing the secret virtue , and quality of it for the good of the stomach . gage chap. 3. which passage , whether we understand it of compound chocolata , or of simple achiote , it amounts to one thing , since it manifests the innocency of it in our composure . c piso mantis . aro●n . c. 18. d id. ubi suprá . e hernandez herb. mexic . lib. 5. cap. 13. f ubi suprá . g ubi supr● . h hernandez & piso ubi suprá . i hernandez herb. mexic . lib. 2. cap. 4. k ubi suprá . l hernandez , & piso ubi suprá : with whom agree the dr. iuanes de barrios , & cardenas . m in that , which i made , and which pleased his majesty , the proportion of the cacao-nut was double to the other ingredients : in that , which i commonly use , the cacao-nut is little more then half of the composition , which proportion is allowed by piso : in the vulgar chocolata , which is made to eat in cakes , or lozenges , there is hardly ● third part of the cacao-nut . notes for div a61881-e20350 n piso in mantiss . arom . c. 9. o i. bontius de med. ind. lib. 1. cap. 5. de aromat . p as to the chymical oyls , you have a further exception against them hereafter : be pleased here only to add , that such oyls being dissolved in the stomach , as they are more dissipable ( so as to relinquish the cacao-nut in the stomach , whilst they diffuse themselves by the nerves , or veins , into the body ) and more dissipating being vigorated by the fire , and disengaged from the gross parts , which detained them before in solid spices ; so the use of them frequently or constantly produceth the same infirmities , that do the spices themselves . notes for div a61881-e22410 q mr. gage chap. 16. r thus ant. colmenero says , you may add the seeds of melons and pompions of valencia dryed , and powdered , or ceterach , amber-grise , and musk ; others add trochises of rhubarb , madder-roots powdered , and prepared steel , and so give it , as an alterative . ☜ f gul ▪ piso hist. utr . ind. in mant. arom . cap. 9. in spain , to make it purging , or lenitive , they put in alexandrian roses , as ledesma , and others acknowledg : and what if one should meet with a parcel of such chocolata , who is already too soluble , or to whom it may be pernicious to be so ? they who sell chocolata understand not any distinction . t this is to be understood not of the ordinary spanish chocolata , against which my authour protests ; but of what is made up , as i prepared that for his majesty , which varyed little from his way . u to obtain this then , it must be kept , and fermented ; and consequently neither what is made into cakes , ( which will not keep , nor ferment in so small quantities ) nor what is made in power , and mix'd with spicery , as it is prepared to drink ; nor what is made alone into paste , and kept , and spiced in the time it is to be used ; can be approved of , since the latter wants the benefit of fermenting with the spicery , and the paste alone grows effaete , and insipid . x this is to be understood only of such chocolata , as his was , being rich of the cacao , and moderately spiced , & that with milde spices : yet did he put in a good quantity of cinnamom . notes for div a61881-e25330 a chap. 16. since the writing hereof i did try it in some of my own chocolata , and it was very pleasing , and more rightly fat then any other way ; but i observed , that the spice had a more vehement heat , and taste , then otherwise : which happened either because the boiling added a sharpness to them ; or that the compages or body of the composition was more laxed , then otherwise : for not being mill'd , it did not seem so well commix'd , as otherwise . b i am sure , that the simple cacao-paste sowres not by boiling long , and several times ; no not my compound chocolata : but it is possible , that the vaynillas , alexandrian roses , or some other ingredient in spain may upon boiling give the drink a sowrish taste . or it may subvert the stomach by becoming too oily , or unctuous , as i observed before . c gul. piso in mant. aromat . cap. 18. i caused some chocolata of my ordinary sort to be boiled , and some i milled , the other part i did not ; and drinking both of them cold , i did not finde any disagreement , but a pleasingness to my taste : yet was that unmilled very fatty . ☞ d it is an indubitable truth , that after digestion , and descent of the chyle into the guts , there are still some remainders in the stomach , which by long fasting , or particular indisposition , do corrupt , and grow acid : such , continuing so , are not to be wrought on ; but , if they be diluted by the mixture of warm chocolata , nature will then concoct it , as it doth spirit of vitriol , or the like with julep . e if it be too thick , they say , it will obstruct : if it be too thin , it yields neither delight , nor nourishment considerable . f mr. gage ( ch. 16. ) saith , that , when he purposed to sit up late to study , he would take a cup about seven or eight a clock at night , which would keep him waking till midnight . i took it my self twice at ten a clock at night , and i think it did render me less sleepy then ordinary ; though i am usually one of little sleep . g i have been ascertained also of these accidents by one , who lived many years in portugal , and made chocolata there . h fienus d●flat . i must say this in favour of the cacao , above almond and pistachia-sweet meats ; that i cannot take any sugar'd drinks , or sweet-meats without a sensible disorder of my blood : but i never found , that chocolata , though drunk with a double proportion of sugar , besides what is in the paste , or cake , did ever offend me ; but refresh and comfort me very much : nor did the chocolata-cake eaten ever offend me , though i never found it to strengthen , or satisfie much , no nor the nuts when eaten dry ; which is a strange effect , yet perceivable to any that drink , and eat it , or the nuts . notes for div a61881-e29260 a gassendus phys. sect. 〈◊〉 l. 5. c. 1. si habeatur ratio valetudinis , docet experientiae quàm saepe gelidae potus noceat , quàm nunquam potus calefactae . b trallian . l. 9. c. 4 , 5. c costaeus de puot in morb . lib. 1. cap. 52. d lib. 4. cap. 22. e acosta lib. 4. cap 22. gage chap. 16. benzon . lib. 2. f vide prosper . alpin . medic. method . lib. 11. cap. 13. g act. 15. 29. h petron. de vict . rom. lib. 5. cap. 1. prosper . alpin . med. method . lib. 3. cap. 6. i vide prosper . alpin . lib. 3. med. method . cap. 6. k aug. de civit . dei lib. 4. cap. 23. & 24. the whole passage , being too large to insert here , is put in at the end of the book ; to illustrate the effects of adam's fall ; and as an apology for this discourse against severe censurers . i hope the presbyterians will consider this , and no longer condemn the chocolata drinkers for luxury , and venereal inclinations : since it seems manifest , that there is no venereal projects like to your constant diet : viz. a cawdle in a morning , milde , but hearty ▪ a diner of solid meats , a good sack-posset with eggs & milde spice , at night ; and all day a moderation in drink , and exercise . l vide petron. de vict . roman . lib. 3. cap. 19. de ovis , & lib. 5. cap. 16. qui etiam ad sobolem procreandam majore irritamento , plurìque semine indigent , hos & efficaciùs & suaviùs concubituros , si priùs , quàm uxorem ineant , ferculum ex lacte ●v●rum , quae tremula nuncupantur , cum pane recenti , quemadmodum lac ipsum comeditur , ●riduùm quatriduúmve manè & vesperì ante cibum assumpserint . neque in hoc casu praesidium aliud ullum huic par esse , sive pipiones cum vino rubro , cum aromatibus , sive diasatyrion in medium adduxreis . i cannot rely upon my own experience in any part of these amorous discourses , and observations : but i owe it all to the acquaintance i have had with persons , the vigour of whose spirits , as it made them learned and eminent philosophers , so it did incline them to render to love . it being observed by the marquess malvezzi , that men of great parts are not chaste by nature , but grace or prudence makes them to be so . but , as to the taking of the white of an egg in gruel at night , i have for some years scarce used any other suppe● : and i finde it to refresh my spirits , which are taken up with perpetual contemplations , and to allay all ardours of the blood , and vapours , whose acrimony might disturb my rest , and to remove all weariness occasion'd by study , or travail . m oritur aspermia ob rerum impensè calidarum usum , quae semen , & succos , è quibus prodit exsiccant , & exhauriunt ; ùt ruta , mentha , camphora , & alia id genus malefi●a naturalia : quibus addi potest nova illa forbitio , ex calidissimis herbis ab indis parata , quam vocant chocolate . haec enim seminalem succum arefa●it adeò , ut qui illam frequentant , brevi tempore aspermati fiant . sinibald . geneanthrop . lib. 15. tr . 1. cap. 20. n mr. gage chap. 15. to begin his journey drinks chocolatte , and eats a maple-bread with a little conserve : — and in the s●me chapter , that we may know how hot he drank it , he calls it a scalding cup of his chocolatte . o vide lipsium in elect. stuckium lib. 3. de conviviis mercurialem , &c. p augen . epist. t. 3. l. 10. ep. 30. q valles . philos . sacr. r heurnius de morb ▪ cap. cap. 17. f vide alex. trajan . petron. de victu roman . t so did motezuma , as i shewed in the beginning out of bernaldus del castillo . notes for div a61881-e41110 a rather fat . b and into bigger bodies too , upon long infusing , and decocting . c this is better done on a stone-table . d this is true , if the cacao-paste be long digested on the fire , and never mill'd : and it is to be seen only whilst it is hot ; for , being cold , you have● only a fatty water , and some large lumps of fat floating , whilest the lesser grains sink , or strike against the side , all in very different and irregular figures . e in those hot countries men are very apt to be troubled with retention of urine : which is the great reason , they still mix in their compositions what provokes urine ; it being usual even here for those , that sweat , and transpire much , to make less water : wherefore we see , that in colds the vrine is more then ordinary . f if it be taken too soon after meals ; in which it hath no peculiar inconvenience , but what is general to any sustenance : and it hurts least , because less apt to corrupt , then other food is . notes for div a61881-e42850 a lud. vives upon this place tells us , that there was such an one , a german , about maximilian's court , and his son philip's , that would have rehearsed any verse whatsoever with his tail . b 〈…〉 when he was sick of a tertian at bruges , as often as the physician told him , it was good to sweat , he would but hold his breath a little , & cover himself over head in the be● ▪ and sweat presently . they , that saw it , wondered at his strange constitution ; but they would have wondered more at augustine's sweater , that sweat as easily as one could spit .